Officials at Tennessee Commerce Bancorp say they've been approved to sell $30 million of preferred stock to the U.S. Treasury as part of the government plan to boost capital levels.
Tennessee Commerce (Ticker: TNCC [2]) becomes the second locally based bank to get Treasury cash, which comes at the price of a 5 percent dividend over five years – 9 percent if the bank doesn't buy back the preferred shares by then. Downtown-based Pinnacle last week said it is in line to get $95 million [3] in fresh capital.
Like Pinnacle, Tennessee Commerce said it plans to use the government's money to build its business. The bank's capital levels have fallen this year because of strong growth – loans outstanding grew 35 percent to $986 million in the year ended Sept. 30.
To read Tennessee Commerce's release from this morning, click here [4].