Mid-Missouri Bank sells subsidiary, lays off 34

Springfield-based Mid-Missouri Bank has divested a consulting subsidiary and laid off 34 full- and part-time employees, or about 13.5 percent of its staff.

Mid-Missouri Bank confirmed Monday that it sold Superior Consulting LLC to the wholly owned subsidiary's former senior vice president, Mary Boyd, according to a news release. Springfield-based Superior Consulting, 1520 E. Primrose St., will continue to provide information technology, compliance assistance and loan review services to commercial banks.

Ron Rushing, also a former senior vice president at Superior Consulting, has formed Rushing Consulting Group LLC, which will conduct loan reviews and management studies for financial institutions, according to the release.

Mid-Missouri Bank President and CEO Lee Keith, who was named to the post in June, said the layoffs were necessary for the bank to remain competitive.

"It's a sign of the times," Keith told Springfield Business Journal in a telephone interview today. "During these economic conditions, I just think every organization is evaluating what is the right staffing level."

Keith said none of the employees laid off were bank branch presidents and that the staffing cuts were enacted across the board.

Mid-Missouri, which has 15 branches throughout southwest Missouri, reported $655.6 million in assets as of Sept. 30, down from $823.7 million a year ago, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. At that time, the bank reported 251 full-time equivalent employees, compared to 269 a year ago.

Mid-Missouri voluntarily shut down its mortgage arm, Mid-Missouri Mortgage Co., in late 2007. Starting about that time, the bank began experiencing significant turnover. From March 2007 to June 2008, at least seven executive officers, including several who sat on the bank's board of directors, resigned.[[In-content Ad]]