Cant See Past the Horizon

With the FDIC taking the last few weeks off from closing any banks, the Blog decided to take a week's hiatus itself. But this Fed Friday, the FDIC is back with their first closure of the month, Horizon Bank of Bradenton, Florida. Horizon Bank ranked 104th on the current list, placing it outside the Top 40 yet still fairly high in terms of failure risk (top 1.5% of banks). Horizon was a very small bank with approximately $187.8 million total assets and $164.6 million in total deposits. Bank of the Ozarks (3652nd) of Little Rock, AR agreed to assume nearly all deposits. Bank of the Ozarks purchased another defunct bank, Woodlands Bank of Bluffton, SC in mid-July.

With just one closing this week, banks are showing a remarkable resilience. How long it will last is anyone's guess. But chances are there will be a lot more failures to come in areas that are still being heavily impacted by the recent recession and housing crisis. In particular Georgia has 8 banks remaining (not yet closed) in the Top 40, Florida has 7 and Arizona and Wisconsin both have 3.