NASDAQ Warns Suffolk County National Bank of Delisting

The NASDAQ stock exchange has notified Riverhead-based Suffolk Bancorp that its stock is in danger of being booted off the exchange for failing to report first quarter earnings on time.

The bank, which is the parent company for Suffolk County National Bank, has 60 days to file its first quarter report or a plan of compliance or it will be delisted, according to the NASDAQ.

The publicly traded bank previously announced on May 11 that it was expecting the notice and that it intends to respond soon.

In the statement, the company faulted its internal controls, particularly its credit administration and risk management divisions, for the delay, saying it has retained independent consultants to review the its loan files and potentially correct computation errors.

In the middle of April, SCNB said it expected a net loss of $12.9 million in the first quarter, compared to net income of $1.5 million during the first quarter of 2010,  later saying that those results may have to be restated since the amount set aside for loan losses may have been too little.

Loan losses increased more than 236 percent in 2011 over the prior year, the company said.

A call to the bank was not immediately returned.