Two Independent Rating Agencies Rank First Green Bank Highest in Asset Quality

Mount Dora, Fla. --- First Green Bank, the Lake County-based community bank with branch offices in Clermont, Ormond Beach, and downtown Orlando, was recently ranked the best community bank in Central Florida for asset quality by two top ratings agencies. The 2013 First Quarter Asset Quality Review by Monroe Financial Services, a leading U.S. investment bank serving community banks since 1968, ranked asset quality at First Green Bank the best of 29 Central Florida community banks in its study. Kenneth LaRoe, founder and chairman of First Green Bank, said the Monroe study focused on total assets, non-performing assets (NPAs) and the highly respected Texas Ratio, a benchmark used to rate banks’ financial security. The Monroe study ranked First Green Bank highest in all three categories. “We scored the lowest in the region when NPAs were included and when NPAs were excluded we scored perfect zeroes,” LaRoe said. Hacker Johnson and Smith, the leading provider of independent audit and tax services to financial institutions in Florida, ranked First Green Bank’s asset quality among the top five banks in Florida. The Hacker Johnson and Smith study also ranked First Green Bank as first in Central Florida in growth in assets. “These studies are interesting to our shareholders and customers as they are an accurate way of measuring our conservative, community-based banking strategy and we are very proud of the results,” LaRoe said. First Green Bank plans to open a branch office in Winter Park later this year. Headquartered on U.S. 441 in Mount Dora and ranked one of the greenest banks in America by the America Bankers Association, First Green Bank opened in 2009.