Michigan-based Flagstar Bancorp Inc., which operates two commercial lending branches in Massachusetts under its Flagstar Bank brand, has been notified by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that its stock price has fallen below acceptable standards.

The NYSE noted specifically that the company was "below criteria" for the NYSE’s price criteria for common stock, because the average closing price of the company’s common stock was less than $1 per share over a consecutive 30-trading-day period, according to a statement.

Under NYSE policy, in order to cure the deficiency for this continued listing standard, Flagstar’s common stock share price and the average share price over a consecutive 30-trading-day period both must exceed $1 on Feb. 18, 2012, or on the last trading day of any month prior to that date. The company was also notified that the NYSE has the right to reevaluate continued listing determinations with respect to qualitative listing standards, including an abnormally low selling price at sustained levels.

Flagstar operates four commercial banking branches in New England: Two in Massachusetts, in Boston and Foxborough; one in West Hartford, Conn., and one in Providence, R.I. The company’s CEO is Joseph Campanelli, who took over in 2009 after serving previously as CEO of local heavyweight Sovereign Bank, before that bank was purchased by Spanish behemoth Santander.

As previously reported in Banker & Tradesman, Flagstar, under Campanelli, is making aggressive inroads into New England – and is making use of his former colleagues at Sovereign. According to Banker & Tradesman, roughly 25 percent of the bank’s recent New England hires are former Sovereign employees, including Steven Issa, managing director of commercial lending with Flagstar and a former regional CEO of Sovereign.