UPDATE: AmeriServ Financial, Johnstown, PA (ASRV)

On the 10-year anniversary of my January 2014 Timyan Bank Alert™ Review of AmeriServ Financial, I'm disheartened to report that this bank is being run into the ground by a bunch of bumbling money grubbers.

ASRV is still flying under the radar in terms of coverage it gets from industry analysts and reporters, and I would still very much like to see it get on the radar, albeit for different — and less friendly — reasons.

My sincerest apologies to readers of my original post and/or 2017 Updated Review of AmeriServ. My only consolation is this: if you meet SEC Rule §240.14a-8 criteria, you could try submitting a Shareholder Proposal to change the bank's bylaws to make it easier to nominate a more independent slate of directors. 

Per AmeriServ's April 2023 Proxy, the window for submitting shareholder proposals is between January 27 and Feburary 26, 2024.

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Disclosure: As of this posting, I own shares of ASRV and may subsequently either dispose of them or purchase more.

Prospective Buyers	AmeriServ has a unionized workforce, which likely acts as a poison pill for potential acquirers.  The only acquisitive bank I can imagine might not be put off by this is Amalgamated Bank, which is also unionized. Amalgamated Financial Corp, New York, NY (AMAL)
Financial Snapshot †as of 09/30/2023	Total assets: $1.361B† Tangible book value per share:    $5.11† NPAs to assets: 0.4%† Price to book: 55% Market cap: $55.9M Dividend yield: 3.7% Trailing 12-month ROA: 0.22%† Trailing 12-month ROE: 2.82%†
Scoundrels	Jerome Michael Adams, Jr, Chairman Jeffrey A. Stopko, President, CEO, and Head of Investor Relations Allan R. Dennison, Former Chairman and CEO
Red Flags	The red flags about AmeriServ and ASRV are too many, for too long, to enumerate succinctly, but here are a few summative and recent highlights.  With an efficiency ratio that's consistently running over 50% higher than the average bank (i.e., 85% vs 55%, respectively), AmeriServ is just too inefficiently managed to have a prayer of earning a competitive return on equity or assets under current leadership. Note: AmeriServ can't blame its disastrous efficiency ratio on its unionized workforce — Amalgamated has a unionized workforce, too, and boasts a better-than-average 52% efficiency ratio. In the first 9 months of 2023, AmeriServ blew over $2M just to keep shareholders from having the opportunity to vote on qualified candidates for the Board that a fellow shareholder with expertise in the banking sector (Driver Management) had recruited and recommended. Had AmeriServ simply invested that $2M in a stock repurchase, they could have retired 4% of the company's shares, yielding an immediate 50% return to shareholders.
Sources	AmeriServ 2023 Proxy Statement Driver Management 2023 Proxy Statement April 2020 Form 8-K February 2006 American Banker article June 2003 Form 10-Q SEC Rule §14a-8 Denver Law Review of SEC Rule §14a-8 Confidential interviews with management and analysts