By Jonathan Weil

The Bancorp Inc. jumped the gun with its annual report. Now it's behind schedule filing the new version.

The Delaware-based bank-holding company on March 4 cautioned investors not to rely on its 2024 annual report-which it had just filed one day earlier. It said at the time it expected to file a new report within 15 calendar days, in line with an extension period under the securities rules. Three weeks have passed since then. Bancorp hasn't filed the report or explained the delay.

Bancorp said the original report was "inappropriately filed," because its outside accounting firm, Crowe, didn't provide final approval to include its audit opinion for 2024. In addition, Bancorp said its prior auditor, Grant Thornton, "also did not provide approval to include its audit opinion" covering 2023 and 2022.

Investors don't seem bothered for now. Bancorp's stock price is up 4% since March 3, the day it filed its original annual report.

In a March 10 update, Bancorp said it expected to revise its credit losses for "consumer fintech loans" and make an offsetting adjustment on its balance sheet, resulting in "no net income impact." It also said there was no impact to its 2022 and 2023 numbers. Bancorp hasn't filed any disclosures since then.

If the fix is that simple, one has to wonder what is taking so long. When Bancorp files its amended annual report, it also will have business matters to update. In its original annual report, Bancorp said March 21 was the date it expected to close the sale of an apartment complex underlying a delinquent loan with a $41 million balance. The closing date was extended once before. Bancorp, which has about $9 billion of assets, hasn't said if the sale closed this time.

A Bancorp spokesman didn't respond to requests for comment.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 25, 2025 13:30 ET (17:30 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.