CapitalSouth Bank

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CapitalSouth Bank was a community bank headquartered on Woodcrest Place in Homewood. It was the only bank in Birmingham to offer bilingual tellers in each branch, and also operated two completely bilingual branches in the Birmingham area under the name of Banco Hispano. The bank was seized by regulators on August 21, 2009 with its assets sold to Iberia Bank of Lafayette, Louisiana for $589 million.

Company overview

Bank of Alabama was founded in 1975 as Fultondale's first bank, in efforts led in part by Palmer "Pete" Norris. Dan Puckett has been Chairman and CEO since CapitalSouth Bancorp was formed to purchase the bank in 1992. John E. Bentley was President and Chief Operating Officer of the bank and handled the day-to-day operations. W. Flake Oatley IV was President and director of the bank's holding company from January 2007 until his resignation on December 31, 2008.

The bank changed its name in 2005, when it opened a branch in Florida. It acquired Jacksonville, Florida's Monticello Bancshares on September 12, 2007. Though the deal only brought two new banking offices, its portfolio of risky mortgage loans poisoned the combined banks' profits after the housing bubble burst in late 2008. The bank's efforts to boost capital by selling common shares found few buyers, dropping share prices to 30 cents a share. The owners moved to privatize the company but were unable to prevent regulators from stepping in to require the sale of assets and the closure of branches. Eventually the Alabama State Banking Department closed the bank and FDIC took control its deposits and assets, which were sold to Iberia Bank.

Branch locations

CapitalSouth had 10 branches. Local branches included Homewood, Fultondale, Pelham, Hoover and West Valley Avenue. Outside of the metro area, CapitalSouth had offices in Huntsville, Montgomery and Jacksonville, Florida, and a loan production office in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to its headquarters in Homewood, the Palmer Norris Center in Fultondale served as the bank's operations center.

Banco Hispano

The branches on West Valley and in Hoover operated under the name Banco Hispano and were the first branches of any bank in Birmingham that directly targeted the area's Hispanic population. Costa Rica native Mariela Méndez was branch manager for the first bilingual branch at 3309 Lorna Road which opened May 3, 2004. Aside from assiting Spanish-speaking customers with daily transactions, Banco Hispano carried the "Tarjeta Amiga", or friendly card, which enabled their customers to wire funds not only to Latin America but throughout the world. Since many immigrants have little to no experience with banks, a 45-minute course on banking was also required of anyone opening a new checking or savings account at the Banco Hispano branches.

References

  • "Bentley promoted to CapitalSouth president" (January 18, 2007) Birmingham News
  • Prado, Hernán (September 2006) "Mariela Méndez: This bank branch manager is proud of her Costa Rican roots." Birmingham Magazine. Vol. 46, No. 9, p. 314
  • "CapitalSouth shareholders approve merger with Florida thrift." (September 12, 2007) Birmingham News
  • "Birmingham's CapitalSouth says president plans to leave bank." (November 24, 2008) Birmingham News
  • Jarvis, Crystal (August 21, 2009) "CapitalSouth seized by regulators." Birmingham Business Journal

External Links