Over one year ago, Naples News reported that Tom Monaghan was interested in creating his own bank in the Naples area. Since then, the project has proceeded silently... until now.

Late last week, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation confirmed for AveWatch that a denovo bank application for "Shamrock Bank of Florida" was accepted three weeks ago bearing the names of Tom Monaghan and his CFO for all things Ave Maria, Paul Roney. In short order, the Florida Department of State received and filed a For-Profit Corporation application for Monaghan's bank.

Monaghan, Roney, and another Shamrock bank Board member, Timothy N. Kaiser, serve together on the board of yet another Florida For-Profit, "Ave Maria Financial Corporation", formed in November 2005.

It was reported last year that the bank would be called "Gulf Coast Bank". Missing from the current list of officers for Shamrock is the former director of the Bank of Naples, Robert Carney Jr., who was slated to be Gulf Coast's director; Carney, however, still serves as President of Ave Maria Financial Corporation. It was also reported in 2006 that Paul Roney would be Shamrock bank's chairman; in that report, Naples News neglected to mention that Roney was also the CFO for Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation, Ave Maria University, Ave Maria College, and Ave Maria School of Law. It is unclear whether Roney is designated as Shamrock's chairman.

The stated target of the bank is "small businesses and individual real estate investors".

It is no wonder that, just yesterday, Senator Charles Grassley, a long-time advocate of increased financial accountability in the non-profit sector, initiated a strong push to increase transparency in how non-profits manage and report endowments, joint ventures, governance, and related organizations.

For additional details on Shamrock Bank, click below.