No new bank applications have been filed with the FDIC since the end of December, which is the longest drought in two years; raising the required amount of capital and a challenging environment has given pause to groups looking to start a bank; “I believe this reality has given pause to investors who were considering starting a new bank,” said Bob Newman, a bank consultant at Chatham Financial, to American Banker; the FDIC has tried to create a new environment to make groups interested in starting a bank but the number of applications has not taken off; “We’re not going to see the number of de novo formations that we saw in recent years, but there will be more in certain markets,” Lee Bradley, Senior Managing Director at Community Capital Advisors Bradley, said to American Banker. “I’m still a believer that community banks play a vital role nurturing and growing capitalism.” American Banker
