Is Sidhu on a Comeback?

News that Jay Sidhu is back at the helm of a bank has played in the media in recent days like Rocky in the 15th round. The storyline goes something like this: he was knocked down at Sovereign Bank and now he is trying to get back up as CEO of a small-time Pennsylvania bank.

Here’s the full back story from Digital Media News:

Jay Sidhu, who led the rise of Sovereign Bancorp into one of the largest US regional banks before being ousted from the organisation, has acquired a controlling stake in New Century Bank, a Pennsylvania-based community bank. Sidhu, who had been leading Sidhu Advisors, a private equity and financial services consulting company, raised $13.6 million from friends and family for the transaction. New Century Bank has $265.1 million of assets and five branches. The bank raised $13.6 million from a private placement of common stock. Sidhu joined New Century’s board of directors last month.

So does the Rocky storyline fit? I tend to think not. Sovereign grew mightily, but mainly through acquisitions. I cannot think of one particular element of banking that Sovereign excelled at.

But whether or not Sidhu is the talented bank CEO that can turn a rock into a roaring financial institution is secondary to another challenge that will keep Sidhu from playing Rocky anytime soon. New Century Bank has the evil taint of New Century Financial, perhaps the worst perpetrator of subprime lending wrongs among the go-go mortgage banks of the mid 2000s. No Sidhu name magic will change that — at least not in my mind.