Partner Pinchus D. Raice and Associate Robert C. Lamonica, both members of Pryor Cashman’s Financial Institutions and Banking Groups, have authored an article entitled "The Framework For Buying a Community Bank."

The article, which appears in the May 2012 edition of The Banking Law Journal, discusses key areas on which to focus when matching targets with investment intent and seeking the approval of banking regulators.

Raice and Lamonica note that the current environment for bank acquisitions is ripe for intrepid market entrants. Between 2002 and 2007, the average price-to-book ratio for acquisitions of domestic commercial banks ranged between 2.26-to-2.56 times book value. That historic premium began to evaporate in 2008 and, for the first time in almost 20 years, the average price for acquisitions nationwide fell below book value during 2009. There is a general expectation that deal prices in the near term will hover moderately above one times book value.