Advantage Bank is meeting goals set in July by the FDIC and Ohio Department of Commerce to correct alleged unsafe or unsound banking practices, according to bank officials.

The bank, headquartered in Cambridge, has 27 branches in three states, including two offices in Marietta.

Advantage Bank Chairman and CEO Jim Houston said the voluntary consent order has not had - and will not have - any impact on customers at its chain of community banks.

According to the FDIC, 219 banks have been placed under corrective action plans this year. In 2008, 142 cease-and-desist orders were given. The previous five years saw an average of 65 such orders.

"It has been the nature of the economy that led to most of these (filings)," Houston said. "These goals were put in place with the regulators' belief our management and board was capable of fixing these issues. If they didn't believe that, there were more drastic steps which could have been taken."

The filing, which neither admits nor denies the allegations, focuses on the bank's practices from October 2007 to December 2008 and calls for a reorganization of the bank's board of directors and for the bank to operate with an adequate level of capital protection, stop hazardous lending and better address delinquent loans and accounts.

Few specific details were included in the cease and desist order; however, there was an allegation the bank's board of directors failed to provide adequate supervision and direction. The FDIC indicated the bank should increase the size of its board with the addition of "two independent directors." The FDIC was to approve the appointment of any board member or hiring of any senior executive while the order remained in effect.

Also, the FDIC said the bank should not extend credit to any borrower who has delinquent accounts. No "interest-only" payments should be accepted in lieu of a full payment on any loans without a written explanation of why the act was in the best interest of the bank.

Without the proper oversight, the FDIC alleged the bank "(was) operating with an excessive level of adversely classified assets, delinquent loans and non-accrual loans."

Houston said the bank has addressed every issue identified by federal and state regulators. Of the 219 banks that went under similar orders this year, only 13 percent have yet to meet the FDIC goals, according to FDIC spokeswoman LaJuan Williams-Dickerson.

Still, 115 U.S. federally insured banks have failed this year, including nine on Saturday. Last year, 26 U.S. banks failed. Between 2000 and 2007, just 27 banks failed.

Williams-Dickerson and state regulators contacted this week said they were not permitted to discuss the details of the Advantage Bank case. Both agencies indicated the consent agreement would "have to speak for itself."

Houston said banks of all sizes have struggled in recent months. He maintained Advantage Bank is solvent.

"The most important points here are that there has been absolutely no customer impact and that we are in full compliance with all regulators," Houston said.