No Closings This Week

Possibly due to improved soundness, or maybe just due to the impending hurricane, there were no closures this week.

Four Failures Including Another Top 40

Note to readers: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) now regulates thrifts and other institutions formerly regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision. As of this time, however, there is still insufficient available data to add these banks to the rating system used by The Bank Blog.

26th ranked First Southern National Bank of Statesboro, Georgia by the OCC. Heritage Bank of the South (formerly OTS regulated) of Albany, Georgia has agreed to assume all of the approximately $159.7 million in total deposits of First Southern National Bank. Of the approximately $164.6 million in total assets, the FDIC and Heritage Bank of the South entered into a loss-share transaction on $115.7 million of First Southern National Bank's assets. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $39.6 million.

In an unusual move, 68th ranked Public Savings Bank of Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, was closed on Thursday by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking. This small bank, $46.8 million by assets, was acquired by Capital Bank, National Association (2702nd) of Rockville, Maryland. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $11.0 million.

94th ranked First Choice Bank of Geneva, Illinois, was closed today by state regulators. The approximately $141.0 million in total assets and $137.2 million in total deposits were acquired by Inland Bank & Trust (595th) of Oak Brook, Illinois, to. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the DIF will be $31.0 million.

Un-ranked Lydian Private Bank of Palm Beach, Florida, was also closed today by the OCC. Sabadell United Bank, National Association (1454th) of Miami, Florida agree to assume the approximately $1.70 billion in total assets and $1.24 billion in total deposits adding nearly 50% to its total size in one day. In order to facilitate the acquisition, the FDIC and Sabadell United Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $907.1 million of Lydian Private Bank's assets. As a result, the FDIC estimates that the cost to DIF of $293.2 million.

Regulators Remove Another Top 40

13th ranked First National Bank of Olathe of Olathe, Kansas, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The assets of about $538.1 million in total assets and $524.3 million in deposits have been assumed by Enterprise Bank & Trust (1183rd) of Clayton, Missouri. The FDIC and Enterprise Bank & Trust entered into a loss-share transaction on $419.6 million of First National Bank of Olathe's assets. This was Enterprise's third acquisition since the beginning of the crises and the first located outside of Arizona greatly expanding the bank's service area. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $116.6 million.

Bank of Whitman and One Other Close

78th ranked, Bank of Whitman of Colfax, Washington, was closed today. In an unusual twist, Columbia State Bank (3713th) of Tacoma, Washington will only partially acquire the former bank. While all of the approximately $515.7 million in deposits will be assumed by Columbia State Bank, only 8 of the 20 branches will re-open. In all, only $314.4 of the $548.6 million in total assets will be acquired. Relative to other closings, the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be substantial at $134.8 million.

202nd ranked Bank of Shorewood of Shorewood, Illinois, was closed today after failing to address a Prompt Corrective Action issued against it in May. The bank was unsuccessful in their attempt to re-capitalize the bank. Instead, Heartland Bank and Trust Company (2888th) of Bloomington, Illinois has agreed takeover nearly all of the approximately $104.0 million in deposits and $110.7 million in total assets. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the DIF will be $25.6 million.

Eighth-Ranked BankMeridian and Two Other Top 40 Banks Fail

Eighth ranked, BankMeridian, N.A. of Columbia, South Carolina succumbed to regulators this week as it was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. SCBT, National Association (1144th) of Orangeburg, South Carolina agreed to take over the approximately $239.8 million in total assets and $215.5 million in total deposits of BankMeridian, N.A. This was SCBT's third acquisition of a failed bank. SCBT also entered into a loss-share transaction on $179.0 million of the assets and the total estimated cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) is expected to be $65.4 million.

The largest bank to fail this week was 19th ranked Integra Bank, National Association of Evansville, Indiana. The roughly $2.2 billion bank by assets was acquired by Old National Bank (2068th) also of Evansville, Indiana. With this acquisition Old National Bank raises their total asset base to nearly $10 billion. This could result in the bank facing greater regulatory scrutiny in the future as some provisions of Dodd-Frank focus on larger banks. The deal includes a loss-share transaction on $1.2 billion of Integra Bank, National Association's assets and is expected to cost the DIF $170.7 million.

Thirtieth ranked, Virginia Business Bank of Richmond, Virginia also closed today. Xenith Bank (6136th) of Richmond, Virginia has agreed purchase nearly all of the $95.8 million in total assets and $85.0 million in total deposits of Virginia Business Bank. The FDIC estimates that the cost will be $17.3 million.

Bank of Choice and Two Others Fail This Week

American Momentum Bank of Tampa, Florida, acquired the banking operations, including all the deposits, of Southshore Community Bank of Apollo Beach, Florida, and LandMark Bank of Florida, Sarasota. The two banks were closed today by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with American Momentum Bank.

Southshore Community Bank had two branches, and LandMark Bank of Florida had six branches. All eight branches of the two closed banks will reopen during normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of American Momentum Bank. Depositors of the two failed banks will automatically become depositors of American Momentum Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage up to applicable limits.

As of March 31, 2011, Southshore Community Bank had approximately $46.3 million in total assets and $45.3 million in total deposits; and LandMark Bank of Florida had total assets of $275.0 million and total deposits of $246.7 million. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the two Florida banks, American Momentum Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of their assets.


The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) for Southshore Community Bank will be $8.3 million and for LandMark Bank of Florida, $34.4 million.

Ameris Acquires Two Failed Banks, Two Others Fail

A frequent acquirer of closed banks, Ameris Bank took over two Georgia-based banks this week. The first was High Trust Bank of Stockbridge, Georgia. High Trust was the second riskiest firm on our list. The other was, just off the list, 44th ranked One Georgia Bank based in Atlanta. These are the 7th and 8th failed banks acquired by Ameris, with the prior two banks having been acquired in November of last year. Perhaps as a result of these ongoing acquisitions, Ameris itself is not without its own financial soundness issues. It ranks among the top 7% in terms of risk at 484th on our list.

With these acquisitions, $2.9 billion Ameris Bank by assets has grown considerably. Both failed banks were of approximately the same size and represented a total of about $380 million in assets and $350 million in deposits as of their most recent federal filings. Ameris entered into a loan-loss sharing transaction with the FDIC on $311.1 million worth of total assets and the overall cost to the FDIC for these shutdowns is estimated at $110 million.

73rd ranked Summit Bank of Prescott, Arizona was also acquired today by nearby Yuma-based The Foothills Bank (4508th). Summit Bank had approximately $72.0 million in total assets and $66.4 million in total deposits. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $11.3 million.

76th ranked, First Peoples Bank of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, was also closed today. The assets were sold to Premier American Bank, National Association (5257th) of Miami, Florida. This was the 5th acquisition for the bank which began as the result of an earlier failure. the roughly $2.5 billion bank by assets added approximately $228.3 million more by acquiring First Peoples Bank. There was no loan-loss sharing agreement and the FDIC estimates the overall cost to be a scant $7.4 million.