US Century Bank: What are you up to? by Geniusofdespair

When most banks are hunkering down and waiting for the ill wind to pass US Century, what I am now calling the “Developer’s Bank”, is expanding offices and writing modifications to third mortgages. A well-connected Boca Raton developer in February got a third mortgage modification agreement from the bank. As, I said in a previous post, with all the developer loans they have written I am surprised they do not have any Lis Pendens in their recent records. In fact, instead I saw a lot of Satisfaction of Mortgages (one for Shoma for instance) in the past year. Most of the mortgages I looked at are for multi-million dollars. According to their 2007 Corporate records, their officers and directors included Armando Guerra, Agustin Herran and Sergio Pino -- major South Florida developers. Some officers and directors and their business partners also get loans from the bank.

Fitch ratings, according to a January 22, 2008 Reuters report, doesn't bode well for them:

"The bank is dependent mostly on the economic conditions of the South Florida market and thus susceptible to a local downturn, particularly in real estate. USCB's loan mix is heavily weighted toward construction and land development and thus exposes the bank to significant risk in a deteriorating real estate environment. Fitch also recognizes that USCB is exposed, albeit very modestly, to sovereign risk in Latin America through its new correspondent banking business. The development of this business bears close monitoring as it introduces new credit and operational risks."

Assets and loans totaled $1.3 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively.

According to a 2003 story on BNet Business Network:

"In the three months preceeding its opening last October, U.S. Century Bank raised $22 million in capital, securing its spot in Florida banking history as the largest "de novo" (startup) capitalization ever made by a state-chartered independent community bank. After its opening the bank raised another $8 million, for a whopping total of $30 million by year's end. The average capitalization for a start-up bank in Florida, according to the Florida Division of Banking, is $8 million.

U.S. Century managed this historic coup because of its board members, a collection of Hispanic business heavyweights. All run successful businesses, most are well-connected and many have experience with start-up banks. When they combined their know-how and their know-who, a successful start-up was almost assured. By year end, an already busy Century had $51 million in deposits, $13 million in loans and $81 million in total assets."