
Five Community Banks Fail
WASHINGTON (
) -- Regulators shut down five community banks and savings and loan associations Friday, bringing the total of number of failed U.S. banking institutions this year to nine.
All five had been previously assigned E-minus (Very Weak) financial strength ratings by
TheStreet.com Ratings
, and all but one were included in
TheStreet.com's
list of
undercapitalized banks and thrifts
.
Florida regulators shut down
Premier American Bank
of Miami and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. receiver. The FDIC arranged for a newly chartered bank,
Premier American Bank NA
of Miami to assume the failed bank's $326 million in deposits and its total assets of $351 million, with the FDIC agreeing to share in losses on $300 million of the acquired assets.
The "shelf charter" that became the new Premier American Bank NA was granted to
Bond Street Holdings
of New York by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in October to allow the investor group to bid for a failed bank.
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The OCC described the shelf charter as "a new mechanism that involves the granting of preliminary approval to investors for a national bank charter," with the charter staying "on the shelf" until the investor group can acquire a "troubled institution."
Premier American Bank's four branches were scheduled to reopen Monday as branches of Premier American Bank NA. The FDIC estimated the cost to its deposit insurance fund would be $85 million.
The Missouri Division of Finance closed
Bank of Leeton
. The FDIC was appointed receiver and sold the failed bank's $20 million in deposits to
Sunflower Bank NA
of Salina, Kan. for a small premium. Bank of Leeton's office was set to reopen during normal business hours Saturday as a Sunflower branch. The FDIC retained the failed institution's assets for later disposition and estimated the cost to the insurance fund would be $8.1 million.
The Office of Thrift Supervision shuttered
Charter Bank
of Santa Fe, N.M. and appointed the FDIC receiver. The FDIC arranged for the failed institution's $852 million in deposits and $1.2 billion in total assets to be acquired by the newly-organized
Charter Bank
of Albuquerque, N.M., a subsidiary of
Beal Financial Corp.
.
The failed institution's eight offices were scheduled to reopen Monday as branches of the new Charter Bank. The FDIC agreed to share in losses on $806 million of the acquired assets and estimated the cost to the deposit insurance fund would be $201.9 million.
Washington state regulators closed
Evergreen Bank
of Seattle, a subsidiary of
Evergreenbancorp
(EVGG.OB)
. The FDIC was appointed receiver and sold the failed bank's $439 million in deposits for a 1% premium to
Umpqua Bank
of Roseburg, Ore., a subsidiary of
Umpqua Holdings
(UMPQ) - Get Report
.
In addition to the deposits, Umpqua agreed to take on Evergreen's total assets of $489 million, with the FDIC agreeing to share in losses on $380 million and estimating the cost to the insurance fund would be $64.2 million.
Evergreen's seven offices were set to reopen Monday as Umpqua branches.
Elsewhere, Oregon regulators closed
Columbia River Bank
of The Dalles, Ore., which was held by
Columbia Bancorp
(CBBO)
. The FDIC was appointed receiver and sold the failed bank's $1 billion in deposits for a 1% premium to
Columbia State Bank
of Tacoma, Wash., a subsidiary of
Columbia Banking System
(COLB) - Get Report
.
Columbia State Bank also acquired the failed institution's $1.1 billion in total assets, with the FDIC agreeing to share in losses on $697 million and estimating $172.5 million in costs to the deposit insurance fund.
Columbia River Bank's 21 offices were scheduled to reopen during normal business hours as branches of Columbia State Bank, beginning Saturday.
Ongoing Bank Failure Coverage
All previous 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 gray. By hovering your mouse over a state you can see the totals for that state. Then click on the state to open a detailed map that pinpoints the locations of the failures and provides additional information.
leads all states with 30 bank or thrift failures from the beginning of 2008 through Friday, followed by
with 23 failures,
22, and
with 17 failures.
Large holding companies acquiring failed institutions during the current crisis have included
J.P. Morgan Chase
(JPM) - Get Report
, which acquired Washington Mutual, the largest-ever bank or thrift to fail in the U.S;
U.S. Bancorp
(USB) - Get Report
;
SunTrust Banks
(STI) - Get Report
;
Regions Financial
(RF) - Get Report
;
Fifth Third Bancorp
(FITB) - Get Report
; Zions Bancorp; and
PNC Financial
(PNC) - Get Report
; and
BB&T
(BBT) - Get Report
.
Free Financial Strength Ratings
While there were no losses to uninsured depositors on Friday, or customers with brokered deposits forced to wait several weeks for their money, both of these scenarios have taken place after recent bank failures.
The FDIC's temporary increase of agency's basic limit on individual deposit insurance coverage to $250,000 from $100,000 has been extended through 2013. While the agency also temporarily waived all deposit insurance limits for business transaction accounts (checking accounts), the insurance limit on these accounts are scheduled to go back to the $100,000 on June 30.
It will be more important than ever for business and municipal entities such as school districts to carefully monitor the health of their banks. It's very easy to have more than $100,000 of somebody else's money flowing through a business account.
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
.
In addition, the Financial Strength Ratings for 4,000 life, health, annuity, and property/casualty insurers are available on the
.
TheStreet.com Ratings
also provides award-winning stock ratings, which are available on the
.
TheStreet.com Ratings
was recently ranked the No. 1 independent stock selector during the market meltdown by BNY ConvergEx Group's BNY Jaywalk.
--
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.









