Winter Park bank's failure a sign of trouble still ahead?

In spite of signs of revival in the U.S. economy, the recent failure of another large, close by based bank in Central Florida is a suggestion the state's community banks are still reel from the real estate slump and depression, experts said Monday.

Winter Park-based First National Bank of Central Florida, closed late Friday by regulators, had struggled for just about three years with sour real estate loans and shrinking resources. Chief Executive Officer Susma Patel, family members and other investor lost millions of dollars in the banks give way.

First National's six branches reopened Monday as part of Florida Community Bank, a unit of Miami-based Premier American Bank, an acquisition-minded institution owned by financier John Kanas and other private-equity investors based in New York. The South Florida bank, in adding up to obtaining First National's branches and customers' deposits, signed a loss-sharing conformity with federal regulator cover $270 million of First National's concerned loan portfolio.

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