Corus Bank - Commercial

Update - 2009-09-18: Corus Bank, N.A. was seized by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on 2009-09-11 with the FDIC named Receiver. MB Financial Bank, N.A. of Chicago, IL purchased the $7 billion in deposits and approximately $3 billion of Corus' $7 billion in assets. The FDIC planned to sell the rest in a private placement transaction within 30 days.

Original Listing - 2009-08-11: This is actually a back-add, as Corus Bank ceased lending after the second quarter of 2008. We put it on the list now as the bank and its holding company, Corus Bancshares Inc., appear to be imminently close to seizure by the FDIC. As reported in the Chicago Tribune, the bank failed to meet a 2009-06-18 deadline to raise capital as required by its regulators, and "many believe it's only a matter of time before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seizes the lender."

An exact date was not available, but it is believed the decision to cease lending was made sometime after the filing of a second quarter 10-Q Statement on 2008-08-06 in which the company said, "We are not contemplating any major changes in our business model." But a major change did occur over the next month and a half as evidenced by this statement in their 3rd Quarter 10-Q filing from 2008-10-30:

"Corus did not originate any new loans in the third quarter of 2008. Given the uncertain condition of the commercial real estate market, and our desire to bolster our capital ratios, management has decided that this is not the right time to originate new loans. We hope that events will transpire over the coming quarters such that we will again feel comfortable originating loans."

Commercial lending was by far the bulk of Corus Bank's business, which operated "more like a real estate investment company than a traditional bank" according to the Chicago Tribune. Fraught with mounting losses on an ever-deteriorating portfolio largely comprised of condominium loans, Corus Bank has been classified as "critically undercapitalized" and working with regulators since the issuance of a Consent Order with OCC on 2009-02-18. As a condition of the Order, Corus would have to seek regulatory approval if it wanted to resume lending. From their most recent 10-Q filing dated 2009-07-31:

"Corus did not originate any new commercial real estate loans in the first quarter of 2009. Furthermore, effective February 18, 2009, under the terms of the Consent Order, prior to resuming commercial real estate loan originations or engaging in any new products or services, the Company must develop a new strategic plan consistent with OCC expectations."

Corus Bank is headquartered and has 14 banking branches in Chicago. As of 2007-12-31, the company employeed a total of 520 full-time employees. The web site lists 23 loan officers, a loan committee comprised of four individuals, three construction managers and a team of four attorney's among the commercial lending department's staff. It is not known how many may have been laid off since lending operations ceased. A 2007 Shareholder's Annual Report has additional info on prior years' origination volume:

"In 2007, we originated $2.0 billion of new loans, which is down significantly from the prior year's originations. Nevertheless, $2.0 billion is a significant amount of business, especially considering the state of the condominium market. If one looks over the past five years, our originations tracked to the housing boom and bust. For the years 2003 through 2007, rounding to the nearest billion, our originations were $2, $4, $5, $4 and $2 billion, respectively."

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