Three local New Orleans banks may be going up for sale

While higher interest rates are squeezing their profits I suspect they are also concerned about the rising costs of residential and commercial property & casualty insurance/higher taxes and the possibility of bad loans surging on their books. Regardless this is not a good development for the region.

NOLA

Three longtime New Orleans-area community banks are seeking to convert from financial institutions owned by depositors into ones owned by shareholders, a move aimed at helping them expand that could also make it easier for them to merge or be acquired in the future.

In the past month, Fidelity Bank and Fifth District Savings Bank, which are based in New Orleans, have sought approval from federal regulators to convert from mutual banks to stock-owned bank corporations. Metairie-based Mutual Savings and Loan has announced it also plans to convert and will file with regulators in the coming weeks.

"...it’s noteworthy that three of the city’s oldest and only remaining mutual banks are all seeking the change at the same time..."

“We typically see between five and seven across the country in a year,” he said. “Right now, there are only three and they’re all in Louisiana in New Orleans.”

"In New Orleans, only four mutual banks remain — Hibernia National Bank and the three currently seeking to convert."

"In 2023, Fidelity’s net income, or profits, fell to $1.1 million from $2.1 million the year before. Fifth District’s, meanwhile, fell to $797,000 in 2023 from $2.9 million in 2022."

“Every single mutual that has gone public in the past has been acquired after three years," said Donald Hensel, a bank investor and adjunct professor at the University of New Orleans. "So, conversions typically set in motion a process where the institution is ultimately sold, regardless of what they say their plans are.”