First Green Bank ranked as one of America’s Safest Banks and one of only 12 in Florida

Mount Dora, Fla. --- First Green Bank, headquartered in Mount Dora, currently ranks as one of the 359 safest banks in the U.S. and one of only 12 in Florida.

The bank, which has branch offices in Clermont and Ormond Beach and plans to open offices in Orlando, Winter Park and The Villages, was named one of America’s 359 safest banks by a Microsoft Network (msn.com) survey of more than 7,300 U.S. banks, said Kenneth LaRoe, chairman and chief executive officer of First Green Bank.

The survey applied the vaunted Texas Ratio, developed by financial wizard Gerard Cassidy at RBC Capital Markets, to a wide range of indicators posted by the nation’s banks.

The Texas Ratio achieved notoriety in the 1980s as an accurate predictor of failing banks. The msn.com survey applied the same Texas Ratio criteria to identify 359 U.S. banks with a perfect score---zero---on the Texas Ratio

“The survey came as a complete surprise to us,” LaRoe said.

It also came at the perfect time. Recently, First Green Bank announced it will issue a public stock offering in the first quarter of 2013, with shares valued at $13 each. LaRoe said the offering will include a $20,000 share minimum purchase requirement.

First Green Bank posted an annual profit of $543,000 for 2011, the culmination of 22 consecutive months of profitability.

First Green Bank was the only Lake County bank and one of only five banks in Central Florida to earn the prestigious Five-Star rating from BauerFinancial, Inc., the independent community bank rating group based in Coral Gables

Most recently, First Green Bank reported assets that total more than $193 million and deposits that total more than $171 million.