Three local banks receive monitor's lowest rating

Eight Florida banks received the rock-bottom rating of zero from BauerFinancial in the second quarter. Two of those banks are based in Bradenton and Venice. A third has local offices.

Freedom Bank of Bradenton earned its zero grade from Bauer for the second straight quarter.

Venice-based Community National Bank of Sarasota County dropped to zero from a two-star grade three months earlier. Banks with Bauer's lowest rating are considered to be among the weakest in the country. Banking regulators have ordered both Freedom and Community National to improve their financial conditions.

Cape Coral-based Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast also got its first zero mark, down from a two-star rating in the first quarter. Riverside has branches in Nokomis and Venice; in July it closed offices in Sarasota and Venice.

Bradenton's First Priority Bank held the "zero" rating for six months before being closed by industry regulators Aug. 1.

Century Bank of Sarasota fell to a one-star rating in the second quarter. Bauer considers one-star banks to be "troubled." Peninsula Bank of Englewood was the only local bank with a two-star, or "problematic," grade.

Local three-star, or "adequate," institutions were Bank of Commerce, Community Bank of Manatee, Englewood Bank and Horizon.

Awarded three-and-a-half stars, or good, were Bank of Venice, First State, Flagship, Landmark and Manatee River.

Charlotte State was the only four-star, or "excellent," bank.

First America earned the sole five-star, or "superior," grade among local banks. The other community banks based in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties were less than two years old as of June 30 and were rated as "start-ups."

Bauer is a Coral Gables firm that has been tracking and rating banks since 1983.

An upcoming edition of Business Weekly will report its ratings for all banks and credit unions doing business in the area.

ADAMO comes to Siesta Key

ADAMO Insurance Group Inc. has opened on Siesta Key.

The agency represents 14 insurers that offer auto, homeowners, flood, renters, boat, life, long-term care and other insurance. ADAMO is owned by Steven Pajevic, who also owns SP Insurance School of Florida. Steve Dziadik is manager. The agency is at 5109 Ocean Blvd.

GunnAllen sells stake

GunnAllen Financial, the Tampa-based brokerage firm that has offices in Sarasota and Bradenton, will sell a majority stake to a local investment group headed by John H. Sykes, founder of call center operator Sykes Enterprises Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Sykes will be the largest single shareholder and will appoint a majority of the board to parent GunnAllen Holdings Inc.

Sykes will become chairman, and current CEO Rick Frueh will retain his role.

GunnAllen has 750 brokers working in 39 states. Nearly a third of them are in Florida.

The brokerage was sanctioned earlier this year for its involvement in a scheme headed by a rogue trader.

It was fined $750,000, and its former head trader's supervisor was suspended for six months by the FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

The regulator cited Gunn-Allen for anti-money laundering, reporting and supervisory failures.