Howard Bancorp, the parent company of Howard Bank, has received preliminary approval to participate in the U.S. Treasury Department’s capital purchase programme.
The U.S. Treasury Department has approved an investment in Howard Bancorp of up to $5.98 million, the maximum level available to an institution of its asset size, for the purchase of preferred stock and warrants to purchase preferred stock.
Howard Bancorp said that it is now considering its next steps around possible utilisation of such capital. The capital purchase programme (CPP) is being made available to healthy financial institutions to further strengthen their balance sheets through the issuance of non-voting preferred stock to the U.S. Treasury.
Mary Scully, chairman and CEO of Howard Bancorp, said: We determined that we should follow the suggestion of regulators to consider this programme and made application to our regulators for such consideration. While we do not require additional capital at this time, we are considering how we could effectively use this capital to positively impact our community through a further increase in our capacity to lend, as well as enhance the long-term interests of our shareholders.
Therefore, we are now exploring the terms, costs and benefits of participation in the programme through this form of capital infusion and we are evaluating the opportunities for the bank and for our customers and communities served, with this potential infusion of capital.
