Problem assets declining for Miss. banks. Fluke or trend?

By Amy McCullough

More than half of metro area banks across Mississippi have experienced a decrease in troubled or problem assets during the most recent quarter (ending June 2010), according to data from the Bank Tracker website.

A “troubled asset ratio” compares the sum of troubled assets with the sum of Tier 1 Capital plus Loan Loss Reserves. Generally, higher values in this ratio indicate that a bank is under more stress caused by loans that are not paying as scheduled.

Will this decrease be a trend? Could it mean an end to rising problem assets? Only time will tell.

Note: For research purposes, Wells Fargo and Regions were eliminated from the study, as a significant number of their problem assets are centered outside Mississippi.

Miss. Metro Banks with a Decline in Trouble Asset Ratio:

52.4%  (11 of 21 banks)

Trustmark * Bank Plus * Community * Merchants & Farmers * State Bank & Trust * Bankfirst * Omni * Liberty * Metropolitan * Peoples * Copiah National

Miss. Metro Banks with an Increase of Less than 1%:

14.3%  (3 of 21 banks)

Citizens National Bank of Meridian * PriorityOne Bank * Bank of Forest

Miss. Metro Banks with Increased Troubled Asset Ratios:

33.3%  (7 of 21 banks)

BancorpSouth * First Commercial * Heritage Banking Group * First Bank & Trust * Miss. National Banker’s Bank * Bank of Yazoo City * Merchants & Planters