Baltimore Bank

A Baltimore bank has appealed a jury decision saying it should pay the former owners of Sherwood Square mall in Westminster $8.6 million in damages.The case will be heard in the Court of Special Appeals, court officials said. A hearing date has not been set.In May, a Baltimore County jury found that Fairfax Savings Association defrauded Charles Ellerin of Boca Raton, Fla., and Louis Seidelof Baltimore by inserting provisions into loan documents without thepartners' knowledge.In 1982, the partners borrowed $5.7 million from Fairfax to buy Sherwood Square and renovate it. They were unsuccessful with the project, and in 1985 they filed for bankruptcy.

First Mariner Bancorp reported Thursday it earned about $1.6 million in the fourth quarter, the fourth quarter in a row that the Baltimore parent of 1 s t Mariner Bank posted a profit. First Mariner Bancorp reported Thursday that it earned about $1.6 million in the fourth quarter thanks largely to its mortgage business, making this the fourth quarter in a row that the Baltimore parent of 1st Mariner Bank posted a profit. For the corresponding quarter a year ago, First Mariner lost nearly $4 million.

Frederick W. Lafferty, 71, Baltimore bank officer Frederick Wayne Lafferty, a retired Baltimore bank officer and foundation director, died Friday of heart failure related to lung cancer at Broward General Memorial Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Roland Park resident was 71. He retired in 1996 after nearly a decade as executive director of the Baltimore-based philanthropic group, the France-Merrick Foundation. Earlier, he headed credit card operations for the Equitable Trust Co. Family members said that while he was active in the American Bankers Association, he helped select the name Visa to replace BankAmericard.

First Mariner Bancorp announced Friday that it is dropping out of an agreement that called for Priam Capital Fund I, a New York investment firm, to invest $36.4 million in the Baltimore-based bank holding company. "Circumstances of the bank have changed considerably since we entered into the agreement over a year and a half ago, and the board of directors believed it was in the best interest of the company to withdraw from the agreement at this time," said CEO Mark A. Keidel in a statement.

Elizabeth K. Wilson, a retired bank officer, died Saturday of a cerebral hemorrhage at Bonnie Blink, the Maryland Masonic Home in Hunt Valley. The former Tuscany-Canterbury resident was 102. Born Mary Elizabeth Kirwan and raised in East Baltimore, she was a 1918 graduate of Eastern High School. Family members said she recalled seeing her first horseless carriage on East Baltimore Street. Her father raised her on his shoulders to observe the 1904 Baltimore fire. About 1920, she became a clerk at Eutaw Savings Bank.

A teen-ager was arrested, and several other young males were being sought yesterday in connection with the armed holdup of a NationsBank in which two employees were handcuffed together, city police said.A teller was opening a side door to the bank in the 4900 block of Patterson Ave. -- south of Reisterstown Road Plaza in Northwest Baltimore -- about 8:40 a.m. when she was confronted by a robber armed with a .38-caliber handgun, police said.The robber ordered the teller to lie on the floor, then told another employee to open the safe, police said.

Robbers armed with nothing more than threatening notes held up four Baltimore banks yesterday, moving the city to the record-breaking levels of 1993 that sent worried bank executives scrambling for solutions.Two banks were robbed in the suburbs -- one in Howard County by a woman who claimed to have a bomb, and one in a Baltimore County mall by a man who hinted he was armed.The city holdups -- three at NationsBank branches -- pushed the number of Baltimore bank robberies to 50 this year. The worst year was 1993, when 116 holdups were reported.

First Mariner Bancorp says it has been notified by Nasdaq Stock Market that it still fails to meet the standards to remain listed on the exchange, according to documents filed with securities regulators on Friday. Nasdaq had given the Baltimore-based bank holding company an extension until Aug. 22 to raise its stock price to meet the $1 per share minimum for being listed. First Mariner said it appealed Nasdaq's finding during a hearing held Thursday, and the results are expected within 30 days.

First Mariner Bancorp reported Thursday it earned about $1.6 million in the fourth quarter, the fourth quarter in a row that the Baltimore parent of 1 s t Mariner Bank posted a profit. First Mariner Bancorp reported Thursday that it earned about $1.6 million in the fourth quarter thanks largely to its mortgage business, making this the fourth quarter in a row that the Baltimore parent of 1st Mariner Bank posted a profit. For the corresponding quarter a year ago, First Mariner lost nearly $4 million.

First Mariner Bank, the Baltimore-based institution that is under regulatory oversight, has acquired 1.8 million shares in Cecil Bancorp Inc., according to documents filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The purchase represents a nearly 25 percent stake in Elkton-based Cecil Bancorp, the parent of Cecil Bank.

The parent of 1st Mariner Bank said Monday that it took a minority stake in a small Cecil County bank after a customer defaulted on a loan — not as part of an acquisition strategy. 1st Mariner Bancorp. declined to identify the customer who lost nearly 25 percent of Cecil Bancorp's total shares to 1st Mariner in a collateral claim on a bad loan. The only person with such a significant stake in Elkton-based Cecil is its chairman, Charles F. Sposato, according to regulatory filings.

First Mariner Bank, the Baltimore-based institution that is under regulatory oversight, has acquired 1.8 million shares in Cecil Bancorp Inc., according to documents filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The purchase represents a nearly 25 percent stake in Elkton-based Cecil Bancorp, the parent of Cecil Bank.

Owen Daly II, who served in the Navy during two wars and was a top executive at two Baltimore-based banks, died Thursday of heart failure at his Lutherville home. He was 87. Mr. Daly was born in Denver, Colo., and attended the Gilman School in Baltimore, where he graduated in 1943. His father had graduated from Gilman. After graduation, Mr. Daly attended a Navy program at the University of Pennsylvania, after which he served as an assistant gunnery officer in the Pacific theater for three years during World War II. He would later serve in the Korean War for two years and left the Navy as a lieutenant.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a man who robbed two Baltimore banks with what he claimed to be were bombs has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. Thirty-year-old Nathaniel Green of Baltimore was also ordered at sentencing on Tuesday to pay restitution of more than $5,000. According to his guilty plea, Green robbed Wachovia banks on West North Avenue and West Pratt Street in July 2010. Each time, Green gave a note to a teller claiming to have a bomb and displayed a device.

In a dimly lit underground vault a block from Camden Yards, the Federal Reserve is holding millions of dollars in cash that nobody wants. The money - stored in cloth and plastic sacks piled high on metal shelving units - is in the unloved form of dollar coins, some of them never used. But a 2005 law requires the reserve bank to keep ordering coins regardless of its stockpile, and so vaults in Baltimore and around the country are filling up. "This is just a small portion of what there is nationwide," Dave Beck, senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and regional executive for the Baltimore branch, said as he stood inside a small warehouse filled with money bags, each containing 2,000 coins.

First Mariner Bancorp says it has been notified by Nasdaq Stock Market that it still fails to meet the standards to remain listed on the exchange, according to documents filed with securities regulators on Friday. Nasdaq had given the Baltimore-based bank holding company an extension until Aug. 22 to raise its stock price to meet the $1 per share minimum for being listed. First Mariner said it appealed Nasdaq's finding during a hearing held Thursday, and the results are expected within 30 days.

Edward "Ned" Kelly III, the former Mercantile Bankshares Corp. executive who shepherded the sale of the Baltimore bank to PNC Financial Services Group two years ago, was named chief financial officer of Citigroup yesterday, the latest move in a major management reshuffling at the struggling bank. Kelly, who has been serving as New York-based Citi's head of global banking, will replace Gary Crittenden, who is moving to a newly created role of chairman of Citi Holdings. The changes come after the company announced earlier this year that it was splitting into two divisions, with Citi Holdings in charge of noncore businesses such as government-backed risky assets and the Baltimore-based consumer lending arm CitiFinancial.

First Mariner Bank needs to raise its capital level by at least $20.9 million to comply with federal regulators, according to regulatory documents filed Monday. Baltimore's largest independent financial institution has been under federal orders to raise its capital levels for over a year. While the bank's parent First Mariner Bancorp raised $25 million since October 2009, the bank fell short of meeting a key capital target by a June 30 deadline imposed by regulators – and still does not meet that goal as of Sept.

City police arrested a suspect in the robbery of a Northwest Baltimore bank on Friday afternoon, a spokesman said. The robbery occurred around 4 p.m. at a Wachovia bank in the 5700 block of Reisterstown Road. Police said a woman walked into the bank and handed the teller a note demanding money. She walked out of the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash, according to Detective Jeremy Silbert. Shortly after police were called and arrived on the scene, they scoured the area and discovered the suspect in the 5300 block of Reisterstown Road, Silbert said.

First Mariner Bank needs to raise its capital level by at least $20.9 million to comply with federal regulators, according to regulatory documents filed Monday. Baltimore's largest independent financial institution has been under federal orders to raise its capital levels for over a year. While the bank's parent First Mariner Bancorp raised $25 million since October 2009, the bank fell short of meeting a key capital target by a June 30 deadline imposed by regulators – and still does not meet that goal as of Sept.