5/27/2010

DAVID CLOUSTON

Long-time Salina banker Alan Eichelberger has left the post of president and chief executive officer of Bank VI of Salina.
His departure comes in the wake of action by the bank to repost its fourth quarter financial statement to reflect a loss in excess of $3.9 million, which banking regulators say more accurately reflects the bank’s position at the end of the year.
For the first quarter of 2010 the bank posted a statement showing it made a profit of $21,000.
Bank chairman Tom Wilbur said Thursday he couldn’t discuss the circumstances of Eichelberger’s departure. Eichelberger’s last day with the bank was May 20.
Wilbur and Eichelberger, together with a number of shareholders from the Salina area, formed a holding company, Sixth Bancshares, in 2005. They acquired Geneseo Bancshares, parent of the Citzens State Bank in Geneseo, and moved the bank’s headquarters to Salina, renaming it Bank VI.
Bank VI first published its fourth quarter statement showing a loss of $861,000, its second consecutive drop. It republished its fourth quarter statement during the first quarter of 2010, showing the $3.9 million loss, at the request of regulators.
Wilbur said the change was due to discussions with regulators, primarily from the Federal Reserve Bank, over how losses from three large commercial loans were to be listed on the statement.
The bank has also reduced its staff by four full-time workers since the start of the year, as it works to maintain profitability.



Read more on this story in Friday’s Journal.