NEWS IN BRIEF

— 15th state bank under federal sanctions

Federal regulators have issued sanctions against One Bank & Trust of Little Rock because of problems with the bank’s capital planning, asset quality, earnings and liquidity.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and One Bank signed a written agreement covering the problems Jan. 20, but the sanction was not publicized until Friday.

One Bank is the 15th bank in Arkansas to be sanctioned by federal regulators. There are 21 more banks that have been sanctioned by the Arkansas State Bank Department.

Other areas considered to be problematic for One Bank were reducing problem assets, repairing the bank’s organizational structure, identifying problem loans and evaluating property, the federal regulator said.

As a result of the regulator’s examination in the fall, One Bank, which is private, doubled its provisions for loan losses and finished the year with a profit of $1.3 million, said Layton Stuart, the bank’s chairman and chief executive officer.

“We feel we’ve got a handle on the problem and that it’s repairable,” Stuart said. “We just have to do it.”

Finance Authority’s credit rating raised

Standard and Poor’s has raised its credit rating on the Arkansas Development Finance Authority to AA with a stable outlook, the state agency said Friday.

Previously, the agency had a AA- rating. The Finance Authority has been upgraded by S&P three times since its initial A rating more than 10 years ago.

The AA rating indicates strong financial performance comparable with other housing-finance agencies.

The Finance Authority is the primary bond-issuing authority in Arkansas.

In addition to issuing lowincome housing debt, the authority issues debt for economic development programs and assists in other nonhousing activities.

Arkansas Index edges up as 8 stocks rise

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, was up 0.45 to 217.45 Friday.

Winners and losers were evenly divided.

Home BancShares rose 3.6 percent on double its average volume. Windstream fell 5 percent on three times its average volume.

For the week, nine stocks advanced and seven declined. First Federal Bancshares jumped 21.5 percent. Windstream lost 4.7 percent.

Volume for the index Friday was 42.8 million shares, compared with average volume of 26 million shares.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 27 on 02/19/2011

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