
FDIC Seeks Bids on Chicago Bank: Report
Updated to include FDIC spokesperson comment.
CHICAGO (
) -- The
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
is soliciting offers for a troubled Chicago-area bank, according to a published report.
According to a story published Tuesday in
Crain's Chicago Business
,
Midwest Bank & Trust
of Elmwood Park, Ill., is expected to be shut down by regulators in mid-May, and the FDIC is accepting bids from other banks to acquire the bank in a government-assisted transaction. Bids must be submitted by May 10.
FDIC spokesman Greg Hernandez told
TheStreet
the agency never comments on operating institutions. He also said that the marketing process for a failing institution usually takes about 90 days and that "all bidders sign confidentiality agreements."
Midwest Bank & Trust was included in
TheStreet.com's
TheStreet Recommends
listing of
, which was published in February. The bank had $3.4 billion in total assets as of Dec. 31 and is the main subsidiary of
Midwest Banc Holdings
( MBHI).
Shares of Midwest Banc were down 11.4% to 70 cents in midday trades. Volume of 5.1 million was more than triple the issue's trailing three-month daily average of 1.6 million. The stock has been extremely volatile this month, running between a low of 19 cents on April 1 and a high of $1.34 this past Monday on an intraday basis.
On March 29, Midwest Bank & Trust was ordered by the Federal Reserve to raise sufficient capital to become adequately capitalized per regulatory guidelines or merge with another institution within 45 days. Most banks need to maintain a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 4% and a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 8% to be considered
. For Midwest Bank & Trust, these ratios were 3.41% and 6.41% as of Dec. 31.
On the holding company front, things looked even worse, as the Tier 1 leverage ratio was just 0.15% and the total risk-based capital ratio was 0.43% as of the end of December, after Midwest Banc Holdings reported a fourth-quarter loss of $119.7 million, mainly reflecting a $98 million provision for loan loss reserves.
Possible bidders for Midwest Bank & Trust mentioned in the Crain's report include
MB Financial
(MBFI) - Get MB Financial, Inc. Report
,
Wintrust Financial
(WTFC) - Get Wintrust Financial Corporation Report
,
FirstMerit
(FMER)
and
U.S. Bancorp
(USB) - Get U.S. Bancorp Report
.
The Windy City saw a rash of failures last Friday as seven
in the Chicago area.
Two of potential suitors listed above for Midwest Bank & Trust were able to make deals last week. MB Financial took over Broadway Bank and New Century Bank, both headquartered in Chicago, while Wintrust scooped-up Lincoln Park Savings of Chicago and Wheatland Bank of Naperville, Ill.
More on Chicago Banks |
All bank and thrift failures since the beginning of 2008 are detailed in
TheStreet.com's
interactive bank failure map:
The bank failure map is color-coded, with states having the greatest number of failures highlighted in red, and states with no failures in grey. By moving your mouse over a state you can see the combined 2008-2009 totals for each state. You can then click the state to open a detailed map pinpointing the locations and providing additional information for each bank failure.
Free Financial Strength Ratings
TheStreet.com Ratings
issues independent and very conservative financial strength ratings on each of the nation's 8,500 banks and savings and loans. They are available at no charge on the
.
--
Written by Philip van Doorn in Jupiter Fla.
Philip W. van Doorn joined TheStreet.com Ratings., Inc., in February 2007. He is the senior analyst responsible for assigning financial strength ratings to banks and savings and loan institutions. He also comments on industry and regulatory trends. Mr. van Doorn has fifteen years experience, having served as a loan operations officer at Riverside National Bank in Fort Pierce, Florida, and as a credit analyst at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, where he monitored banks in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Mr. van Doorn has additional experience in the mutual fund and computer software industries. He holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Long Island University.