Sun West asks for more time to raise capital

Sun West Bank is seeking to raise additional capital and has asked federal regulators to give it additional time to raise the capital, Chief Executive Officer Jackie DeLaney said Monday.

She was responding to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. disclosure Friday of an order, requiring the bank to take "prompt corrective action."

The directive called for Sun West Bank to merge with another bank or raise additional capital.

DeLaney said she expects to secure additional capital, which would include common stock, to boost the bank's net worth or risk-based capital ratio to more than 10 percent. Regulators consider banks with 10 percent risk-based capital to be well capitalized.

The bank's risk-based capital was 4.2 percent on March 31.

A confidentiality agreement prevents her from disclosing the dollar amount of capital to be raised, DeLaney said. She said she expects the agreement to be signed within a few weeks. Then, Sun West must wait for regulatory approval.

The new capital would come from institutional investors, she said.

Separately, Sun West has signed up for the FDIC Transaction Account Guarantee, which provides unlimited federal deposit insurance backing for deposits in non-interest bearing accounts, she said.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards
@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.