Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Citizens First Bank


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Randykitty (talk) 16:21, 3 June 2019 (UTC)

Citizens First Bank

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There doesn't appear to be anything about this bank to make it more worthy of note than any other bank. It exists, it is a bank, it has assets, and yes, it has even been discussed in some secondary sources. We require that articles about political candidates give evidence of coverage above and beyond what any candidate would automatically get in order to qualify for a Wikipedia article— if we hold that standard to things like banks, then this article is one we should probably delete. How many employees they have (not an unusual amount), the number of branches they have (a typical amount), the community they serve (their own local one), paints a picture of a very routine, very non-notable bank. A loose necktie (talk) 13:47, 20 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Florida-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 14:08, 20 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Companies-related deletion discussions. North America1000 14:16, 20 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Finance-related deletion discussions. North America1000 14:16, 20 May 2019 (UTC)


 * Keep This looks like a pretty good article to me. Solid references. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 23mason (talk • contribs) 14:42, 20 May 2019 (UTC) --23mason (talk) 16:49, 20 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Delete After reviewing the references in the article and searching around online, I have not found evidence that Citizens First Bank has received significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources as WP:NCORP requires. Out of the 25 sources provided, only three are independent, reliable, and significant. All three come from the same source, The Villages Daily Sun. The other sources I found online were only trivial mentions, mostly about stock prices. --AntiCompositeNumber (talk) 14:53, 20 May 2019 (UTC)


 * Keep I disagree, this bank is notable, at least to the community it serves, for several reasons. 1. First of all, Citizens First Bank has over 50% of the market share in the area that is serves. This is extremely unusual, especially for a bank that is the size of this one (not overly big). https://www5.fdic.gov/sod/sodMarketRpt.asp?barItem=2 2. There are a large number of locations in a small geographical area. 9 of their 11 locations are in one zip code. 3. Almost 3/4 of residents in the Villages have a relationship with Citizens First Bank. Out of the 122,460 residents of The Villages, roughly 90,000 bank with this institution. 4. It is extremely visible in the Villages/Central Florida community. There is often media coverage by outlets such as The Daily Commercial, The Villages Daily Sun, The Villages News, and The Orlando Sentinel. 5. It is the 11th largest bank in that state of Florida and the only bank headquartered in Sumter County. It is also the only community bank in the tri-county area since the acquisition of Community Bank and Trust by MidFlorida Credit Union. 6. This bank operates and caters to an extremely unusual clientele: the largest retirement community in the world. While I don't have access to data on customer demographics, this bank serves a clientele primarily 65 and up. 7. This bank is located in the FASTEST growing city in the United States. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/05/26/fastest-growing-and-shri nking-us-cities/34813515/ Also, if your logic holds true, that would warrant the deletion of numerous other community bank pages such as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Bank_(Oregon) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Community_Bank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_River_Bank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfield_County_Bank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Northern_Bank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtown_Savings_Bank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_National_Bancorp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_Bank_of_Danbury https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Savings_Bank — Preceding unsigned comment added by Iamorangelightning (talk • contribs) 12:14, 20 May 2019 (UTC)
 * I get the sense, Iamorangelightning, that you took advantage of Wikipedia's requirements that you have at least 10 edits and a 4-day edit history before deciding that your own draft article on this bank no longer had to wait around in the AfC queue and put it yourself in the mainspace. I am sure you did not do this because you have any conflict of interest in the article, are not an employee of the bank, and have no personal vested opinion in whether it is kept or deleted. And you are now up to 44 edits, with the edits to the non-bank articles all being perfunctory ones you did to fill time.  Keep that train rollin'!  But in other news: that the bank is notable "at least to the community it serves" doesn't really have any bearing: my cat is notable to the neighborhood in which he lives, but he sure ain't notable.  And retirement communities are an unusual clientele for a bank? And that it is located in the fastest growing city in the US?  None of that has any bearing on the BANK's notability.  Should all those other community bank articles you mentioned be deleted?  Maybe!  Perhaps you should go check them out and nominate them for deletion if you think so.  Be my guest!  That, too, has no bearing here.  A loose necktie (talk) 10:51, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Not sure that I understand your underlying hostility, or bizarre cat analogy, A loose necktie, but I appreciate your feedback. I think that at this point, notability has been easily proven, especially by the helpful and detailed post from Cunard. I would hope that all Wikipedians, however new they may be at this, would want to help build a robust encyclopedia of information, not just assassinate new articles indiscriminately if they don't fit their particular interest or fancy. Iamorangelightning (talk) 15:14, 29 May 2019 (UTC)


 * Keep Seems like a reasonably solid article to me. Sourcing is pretty good. --Butterscotchcactus (talk) — Butterscotchcactus (talk&#32;• contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic.
 * Keep looks like the references have been updated since first brush. i think its ok. — DuncanStone23 (talk&#32;• contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. The preceding unsigned comment was added at 09:35, 23 May 2019 (UTC).
 * Weak keep While I don't think that this organization is overly notable, the article is pretty well written and the references aren't nearly as bad as AntiCompositeNumber said in his source assessment. According to the article's edit history, the references and citations have been updated several times (13 of 34 are now from outside media coverage according to my count). Banana Guacamole (talk) — Banana Guacamole (talk&#32;• contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic.
 * Comment What is with the SPA account votes? – The Grid  ( talk )  16:12, 24 May 2019 (UTC)
 * I have no idea. I'm not about to start an SPI myself, but I do think it is suspicious. I don't think I've seen anyone !vote "weak keep" as their first edit before. --AntiCompositeNumber (talk) 17:54, 24 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Are there consequences for starting a sock puppet investigation for the person who starts it? That seems backwards, but I wanted to ask. A loose necktie (talk) 10:51, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
 * The SPI investigation would be separate from this. – The Grid  ( talk )  12:41, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

Keep per the significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources.     <li></li> <li></li> <li><li></li> <li></li> </ol>

<ol> <li> The article notes: "One thought came to Anita Hitz when she learned that Citizens First Bank recently passed a monumental milestone for a community bank — $1 billion in total deposits. ... That focus on customer service explains a lot about this successful community bank, said Karen Dorway, president of Coral Gables-based BauerFinancial, the U.S. banking industry’s leading bank-ratings firm, “It’s absolutely the key; no question about it,” Dorway said. “It becomes more difficult as a bank becomes larger. But if the top management is committed to customer service, the chance of them being able to continue their success is extremely good.” Citizens First ranks at such a level financially that BauerFinancial analysts awarded some of its highest marks to the community bank in their most recent analysis of the U.S. banking industry. The financial ratings firm awarded the bank a four-star ranking, which classifies its financials as “excellent.” “It’s profitable and nonperforming loans are well below the average for the state of Florida,” Dorway said recently."</li> <li> The article notes: "In just less than two months, Citizens First Bank has achieved considerable success with its latest customer promotion. ... Such use of creative customer services typically indicates a bank is interested in more than business-as-usual practices, said Robert J. Chassman, a Jacksonville-based banking industry analyst. “It’s obvious they’re not happy standing still,” said Chassman, vice president of mergers and acquisitions at the investment banking firm of Allen C. Ewing & Co. “In order to stay a step ahead of the competition, they’re going to have to continue to roll out new products to differentiate themselves from other community banks.” ... Quarterly bank deposits grew by nearly 17 percent to $779 million as of June 30, compared with the same time period a year ago, the bank reported in its latest filing with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. But it’s the makeup of those deposits that impresses Chassman. “What you want to look at is how they’re growing their deposits,” Chassman said. “Any bank is willing to grow deposits if they’re willing to up the interest rate. That’s typically on time deposits and certificates of deposits. ... And the bank is posting ratios that many other community banks would envy, Chassman said. “Their year-to-date return on assets is 1.13 percent, which is an excellent number,” he said. In addition, the bank’s net interest margin also remains stable, Chassman said. The FDIC considers net interest margin as a key indicator of bank net cash flow and after-tax earnings. ... Those numbers tell Chassman one thing: “It shows the bank is a conservative bank, and very well run,” he said."</li> <li> The article notes: "Joseph Stewart Jr., chief executive of First Bank of the Villages, calls the bank's home base Disneyland for retirees. ... Consider some of the attractions at Villages of Lake-Sumter: Bank assets soared 44 percent last year, all from internal growth, not acquisition. The community has never had a loan default. Never. ... The nearly 6-year-old bank has more than $80 million in assets. And it earned $611,000 in 1996. That was up 125 percent from 1995. The bank has competition, of course. But with two branches and plans for nine automated-teller machines, it's well-positioned in a growing, recession-proof community of retirees whose income comes from pension funds. Even so, not all the bank's numbers are great. Its return on assets was only 0.91 last year, below the 1 percent industry benchmark. But that was way up from 0.58 percent the year before. Likewise, return on equity was only 13.47 percent, on the low side, but more than double that in 1995. One of the bank's problems is that its natural customer base - residents of the sprawling development - deposit a lot more money than they borrow. So the bank has to go further afield in lending than it does in raising deposits."</li> <li> The article notes: "Here's another approach to growing a young community bank: First Florida Bank, based in Naples, already has a loan production office in the Orlando area and now plans to open a branch in Winter Park. ... [Robert O.] Smedley launched First Florida in 1999. He said the loan production office here has about $20 million. The branch will permit the bank to gather deposits here and probably will make it easier to find good loans, too. ... Growth at the bank has been fast. Citizens First opened in 1991. By the end of last year, it had assets of $246.6 million. The bank has three offices in The Villages, which has a population of nearly 30,000, and a fourth in Leesburg."</li> <li> The article notes: "The word is that First Bank of the Villages is to open July 1, if federal bank regulators give the green light as appears likely. ... OK, I know Joe Stewart is the chief executive officer of the new bank and chairman of the board of directors. Schwartz is a member of the board and a stockholder. So is his son, Gary Morris, a principal executive overseer of OBG enterprises. Schwartz is patriarch of Orange Hills Inc., owner of the Villages of Orange Blossom Gardens, which sold a piece of land in the LaGrande Plaza to the First Bank of the Villages stockholders."</li> <li> The article notes: "Where do shareholders of First Bank of the Villages in Lady Lakes go when they want to borrow big bucks? Huntington National Bank. Trusts set up for three children of Gary Morse, one of First Bank's founders, plan on borrowing $2.7 million from Huntington to load up on more First Bank stock, First Bank President Joseph Stewart said in a letter to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta."</li> <li> The article notes: "Residents of The Villages who patronize the Citizens First Bank in their neighborhood will soon have a second full-service branch at which to do business. ... The first Citizens First Bank in The Villages opened July 1, 1991."</li> <li> The article notes: "Changes are ahead for Citizens First Bank in Leesburg, but Chief Executive Officer Steven Kurtz said the institution is in town to stay. ... The company for several years has been contemplating moving from its handsome yellow building at the junction of U.S. 441 and U.S. Highway 27, where it not only housed the bank branch on the bottom floor but an operations center on the top floor – each level measuring in at 5,000 square feet. ... Citizens First Bank was founded in 1991. It currently has $2 billion in total assets."</li> <li> The article notes: "It’s a business philosophy that ranks The Villages’ bank among the top banks in its class in terms of deposit growth, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently reported on its Web site (fdic.gov). Citizens First reported slightly more than $734 million in total deposits last year, the FDIC disclosed. It is among 176 banks, or 67 percent of all banks in the state, that reported total deposits of $100 million to $1 billion. All of the banks in that class reported only an average 4.12 percent increase in deposits, while Citizens First more than doubled its annual deposits. The Villages’ bank experienced a 9.48 percent increase in deposits during the same reporting period."</li> <li> The article notes: "Since its formation in 1991, the bank has adopted a customer-friendly operating strategy to win over the Villages population. It is a strategy that has served the bank well, market studies show. The bank owned 25.4 percent of the entire Sumter County banking market as of the financial reporting period that ended June 30, 2005, according to the national research firm SNL Financial. It ranked second only to Wachovia Bank, a national bank."</li> </ol>

There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow Citizens First Bank to pass Notability, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject". Cunard (talk) 05:03, 27 May 2019 (UTC)</li></ul>
 * Citizens First Bank has received critical analysis in The Villages Daily Sun and Orlando Sentinel. The Villages Daily Sun quotes Karen Dorway, president of Coral Gables-based BauerFinancial, a U.S. banking industry bank-ratings firm, about why Citizens First Bank is a "successful community bank". Dorway said, "It's absolutely the key; no question about it. It becomes more difficult as a bank becomes larger. But if the top management is committed to customer service, the chance of them being able to continue their success is extremely good." Dorway further said, "Its profitable and nonperforming loans are well below the average for the state of Florida". BauerFinancial gave Citizens First Bank a four-star rating and rated its financials were "excellent". The Villages Daily Sun quotes Robert J. Chassman, a Jacksonville-based banking industry analyst, at the investment banking firm of Allen C. Ewing & Co. Chassman said, "In order to stay a step ahead of the competition, they're going to have to continue to roll out new products to differentiate themselves from other community banks." Chassman further noted, "Their year-to-date return on assets is 1.13 percent, which is an excellent number." Chassman concluded about Citizen First Bank's numbers, "It shows the bank is a conservative bank, and very well run". The Orlando Sentinel provides detailed analysis of the company, noting that, "The bank has competition, of course. But with two branches and plans for nine automated-teller machines, it's well-positioned in a growing, recession-proof community of retirees whose income comes from pension funds." The Orlando Sentinel also provides negative material about the bank noting that "not all the bank's numbers are great" because "Its return on assets was only 0.91 last year, below the 1 percent industry benchmark" and "return on equity was only 13.47 percent, on the low side". The reporter provides further analysis: "One of the bank's problems is that its natural customer base - residents of the sprawling development - deposit a lot more money than they borrow. So the bank has to go further afield in lending than it does in raising deposits." The bank passes Notability (organizations and companies), which says, "Deep or significant coverage provides an overview, description, commentary, survey, study, discussion, analysis, or evaluation of the product, company, or organization." The sources I listed here provide detailed commentary, discussion, and analysis of Citizens First Bank. The bank passes Notability (organizations and companies), which says, "Evidence of significant coverage by international or national, or at least regional, media is a strong indication of notability." The Orlando Sentinel is a regional newspaper. Cunard (talk) 05:03, 27 May 2019 (UTC)

<div class="xfd_relist" style="border-top: 1px solid #AAA; border-bottom: 1px solid #AAA; padding: 0px 25px;"> Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus. Relisting comment: It would be good to have some more opinions from established editors, as the SPA !votes are likely to be ignored.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Randykitty (talk) 14:00, 27 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Weak delete The sources just don’t give credence to notability. Trillfendi (talk) 15:15, 27 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Weak keep I'm trying to see why provided an analysis that more or less summarizes the assessment that  provided. There's enough material to pass notability even with the trivial mentions. Probably get a reference independent from the business for its employees, revenue, stats, etc and it would be sufficient. –  The Grid  ( talk )  12:49, 31 May 2019 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. <b style="color:red">Please do not modify it.</b> Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.