Cf Bank Fairlawn Ohio

Cf Bank Fairlawn Ohio

Cf Bank Fairlawn Ohio

This is Eloise Mackus, the CEO who owes you $7MM

She makes $190k and lost $17MM in the last 2 years

She is one hot looking banker

CF Bank Fairlawn Ohio was founded in 1892.  The company took $7MM in tax payer funded bailout money, which it has decided to not pay back.

Assets are $272MM with equity of $16MM.

The actual equity is $9MM, as the $7MM in bailout funds is debt, not preferred stock.  The government is just trying to prop up this bankrupt institution.

The problem loan portfolio is $5MM, with $3MM in OREO.

This place is insolvent.

Why are they not shut down?

Then again, why aren’t they on the problem bank list?

Net income was ($7MM) in FY10, ($10MM) in FY09.

How are they going to pay back the tax payer at this rate?

At least the executives are getting paid.

Eloise Mackus      made $190k

Theresa Liutkus   made $184k

Corey Laster         made $284k

Mark Aillo              made   $128k

That is good pay for wiping out a 149 year old financial institution.

A Fairlawn-based community bank is being headed up by new management as it looks to turn around a string of losses.

Officials last Friday announced that Mark Allio, 55, resigned from all of his posts at Central Federal Corp., the holding company for CF Bank, and from the bank itself, effective June 1. Allio had been a director of the holding company since 2003 and at the time of his departure was chairman, CEO and president of the holding company and CEO of CFBank.

Also at the same time, Raymond E. Heh, 67, president and chief operating officer of CF Bank, announced his intention to retire as of June 1.

The company's board of directors named Eloise L. Mackus, 60, as interim CEO of both the holding company and CF Bank, which has branches in Fairlawn behind Summit Mall, and also in Calcutta, Wellsville and Worthington.

Mackus has been with the bank since 2003 and was executive vice president, general counsel and secretary. She will retain the secretary position.

Also, on Wednesday, the board named Therese A. Liutkus, 51, as company and bank president and chief financial officer, effective June 1. Liutkus was chief financial officer.

Chairman of the Board Jerry F. Whitmer said Allio offered his resignation after the bank's annual meeting a week ago and the board accepted it. Whitmer said the board did not ask for Allio's resignation, though Whitmer did acknowledge that one shareholder called for it because of the bank's performance. Whitmer became chairman of the board upon Allio's resignation from that position.

The bank has posted a loss every year but 2008 since 2003. For 2009, the bank posted a net loss of $9.9 million, or $2.51 per share.

''There were many, many factors that went into that resignation,'' said Whitmer, who acknowledged that many banks have posted losses during the recession.

''Mark is very, very capable and he understood the situation, and he knew that in the end, the CEO is responsible for the bank's performance. He took responsibility for it,'' Whitmer said.

Allio declined comment regarding his departure.

Mackus said the bank's losses have been primarily attributable to performance by its lending clients.

''Our borrowers had gone through some difficult times as a result of the economic downturn,'' she said. As a result, some had difficulty paying on the loans.''

According to a presentation Allio gave to shareholders, the bank's loan portfolio composition for commercial real estate loans increased from 21 percent of the bank's loans in 2005 to 42 percent in 2009. Consumer loans
dropped from 23 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2009.

Mackus said a ''very sizable part of the bank's business'' is commercial lending, which became a focus of the bank when its headquarters moved from Wellsville to Fairlawn in 2003. The bank, which was founded in 1892, redirected the focus from retail banking and mortgage lending to include commercial lending in 2003, Mackus said.

Asked whether the bank took on too many risky loans, Whitmer, said, ''I don't think the bank was in risky loan practices. I think the overall loan policy that was in place was probably fine had the economy not collapsed like it did.''

Whitmer said the board has not given Mackus a specific direction for change, ''but the board knows, and Elly understands, that we need to redo our loan portfolio and see which direction we really want to go with that.''

As of March 31, the bank had assets of $288.6 million and deposits of $234.7 million.

The board will soon begin a search for a new CEO by looking for a search firm. Mackus has been told she will be among those considered for the full-time job. The southwestern Michigan native moved to the Akron area in 1977 and lives in Akron. She has worked in private practice and at J.M. Smucker Co.

While Liutkus was not named to her position as an interim, Whitmer said it will ultimately be up to the new CEO on whether she remains in that position.

Mackus said the bank, with 75 employees companywide including 41 at its Fairlawn headquarters, remains well-capitalized.

''Our capital ratios exceed the federal requirements by a significant amount,'' she said. The bank's total risk-based capital ratio is 12.2 percent (the federal requirement is 10 percent); Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio is 11 percent (federal requirement is 6 percent) and core capital ratio is 8.4 percent (federal requirement is 5 percent).

 

Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at
330-996-3724 or blinfisher@
thebeaconjournal.com.