No Rest For Regulators

Even as Hurricane Sandy brought down our ability to report at the Bank Blog until Saturday, nothing kept the authorities from halting their pursuit of failing banks yesterday. Neither of this week's two failures made our Top 40 prediction but both had troubling financials nonetheless.


At 86th on our list (placing in the second-worst percentile) Citizens First National Bank of Princeton, Illinois, was closed yesterday. Heartland Bank and Trust Company (4124th) of Bloomington, Illinois, agree to acquire the approximately $924.0 million in total assets and $869.4 million in total deposits of the former bank. This is the fourth failed acquisition for Heartland. As one of the larger failures in recent history, this one was not unusually costly. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $45.2 million, less than 5% of the total assets of the former bank. 



At 144th, Heritage Bank of Florida, Lutz, Florida, was also closed yesterday by regulators. Centennial Bank (3663rd) of Conway, Arkansas, acquired to purchase approximately $193.7 million of the failed bank's $225.5 million in total assets. They also assumed about $223.3 million in total deposits. Centennial Bank agreed to p. This is Centennial Bank's seventh acquisition of a failed bank since the beginning of the crisis.The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the DIF will be $65.5 million.