Regulators order improvements at Columbia S&L

Columbia Savings and Loan Association, a small community lender in Milwaukee’s central city, has been told by regulators to shore up management and lending practices and take other steps to improve the performance of the institution.

An Oct. 26 consent order disclosed Friday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions said Columbia must “restore all aspects of the bank to a safe and sound condition, including capital adequacy, asset quality, management effectiveness, earnings, liquidity, and sensitivity to interest rate risk.”

Columbia, 2020 W. Fond du Lac Ave., has lost money in eight of the last 10 calendar years, according to FDIC records. Through the first three quarters of 2018, it posted a profit of $3,000.

The latest FDIC report showed that 6.61 percent of Columbia’s loans were delinquent at the end of the third quarter.

Statewide, fewer than 1 percent of loans and leases on the books of Wisconsin-based banks were non-current as of Sept. 30.

The consent order, in which the bank doesn’t admit or deny any charges, replaces a previous order issued in 2014 that has been terminated.

The new order says the bank must maintain a current profit plan and budget for all categories of income and expense for the calendar years 2019 and 2020 and subsequent years. The order calls for more participation by the board of directors, and a succession plan for the board.

The bank’s president couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

With assets of about $23.6 million, Columbia Savings and Loan Association is one of Wisconsin’s smallest banks. Founded in 1924, Columbia is among 23 African American-owned banks on the FDIC’s Minority Depository Institutions Program list.