PBI looks in new direction with renewed optimism

A lot of changes have occurred for PBI Bank, a subsidiary of Porter Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: PBIB), since the financial disruptions of the Great Recession took a toll on the bank.

These days, PBI's future is viewed with great optimism by Joe Seiler, executive vice president and head of corporate banking. Seiler joined PBI in August 2013. He said it is a bank in transition.

According to the second-quarter community banking report released by the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank in August, PBI posted a profit of $519,000 for the first half of 2014, compared with a loss of $984,000 during the same period a year earlier.

The bank's Texas ratio, which divides problem assets as a percentage of the bank's capital and serves as an indicator for problem banks, has improved to 117.88 in the second quarter of 2014 from 158.27 in the second quarter of 2013. A Texas ratio above 100 is considered an indicator that a bank could be at risk.

And PBI is the only Louisville-area banking company that still owes the Troubled Asset Relief Program fund the $35 million it borrowed in 2008 under the Capital Purchase Program.

Seiler directed questions related to TARP to PBI CEO John Taylor, who is scheduled to talk with Business First soon to discuss, in part, the outstanding TARP funds.

Seiler did talk about plans for the future of PBI. Below are excerpts of my interview with him.

How do you describe PBI Bank to people?

"I tell (people) PBI Bank is a bank in turnaround," Seiler said. "We're changing the dynamic. We're going to be a strong community-focused bank that is going to serve all of our markets.

"There are times where people only get the 30-second sound bite and don't realize the progress we've made in moving from the legacy bank to the bank that we are," he added.

Braden Lammers covers these beats: Financial services, residential real estate, law, property and casualty insurance, construction, unions, engineers, architects and agriculture.