"Shutdown of Guaranty Bank questioned"

Paul Gores , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 5:00 a.m. CT May 9, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

"New investors were on the verge of pumping $100 million into Guaranty Bank, a prospect that should have stopped federal regulators from shutting the Glendale-based institution last week, an investment banker who was working with the investors said Monday.

"Steven D. Hovde, chief executive of Chicago-based Hovde Group, said the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency 'pulled the rug out' from Guaranty Bank when it suddenly closed it down Friday night.

"RELATED:Feds close Guaranty Bank; to reopen as First Citizens

"Hovde, who is widely known in Wisconsin and elsewhere for helping banks raise capital, said the feds knew that a recapitalization of about $100 million was in the works and might have been completed by the end of June. The money could have restored the bank's capital to levels acceptable to regulators.

"In addition, Hovde said, Guaranty was improving financially and had cleaned up many of the problems stemming from loans that started going bad during the Great Recession.

"'There is no reason that bank should have been grabbed this past Friday, no reason at all,' Hovde said, calling it 'a horrendous case of government overreach plain and simple.'"

Read more:  http://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2017/05/09/shutdown-guaranty-bank-questioned/101443230/