3rd UPDATE: Regulators Close Banks In Calif., Md., Minn.
August 28 2009 - 9:03PM
Dow Jones News
Federal and state regulators Friday shuttered banks in
California, Maryland and Minnesota, bringing the number of failed
banks nationwide this year to 84.
Affinity Bank of Ventura, Calif., was closed by the state
Department of Financial Institutions, with the banking operations
of PacWest Bancorp (PACW) assuming its $922 million in deposits.
PacWest unit Pacific Western Bank also agreed to buy most of
Affinity's $1 billion in assets.
U.S. regulators also closed Bradford Bank of Baltimore, while
announcing an agreement with Manufacturers & Traders Trust Co.
(MTB) to assume all deposits of the failed institution.
Meanwhile, Mainstreet Bank of Forest Lake, Minn., was closed by
the state's Department of Commerce, with Stillwater-based Central
Bank taking over the deposits.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was named receiver of
all three banks, estimated the agency's deposit insurance fund
would take a hit of $254 million from Affinity's failure. It
expects Mainstreet's closure to cost the fund $95 million and put
Bradford's cost at $97 million.
Bank failures have reached levels not seen since the
savings-and-loan crisis of the early 1990s as the economic slump
continues to take its toll on the financial sector. In 2008,
regulators shut down 25 banks.
The closings have cost the FDIC about $19 billion, and the
deposit insurance fund that protects more than $4.5 trillion in
U.S. bank deposits is quickly running out. The FDIC said Thursday
that the fund held just $10.4 billion at the end of June, the
lowest level since the S&L crisis.
Meanwhile, the agency added another 111 names in the second
quarter to its list of "problem" banks considered at higher risk of
failure, bringing the total to 416, despite signs of improvement in
the broader economy.
Bradford's nine branches will reopen Monday as branches of
M&T, of Buffalo, N.Y. In addition to assuming all $383 million
of Bradford's deposits, M&T also agreed to purchase essentially
all of the failed bank's assets, which totaled $452 million.
The FDIC and M&T entered into a loss-share transaction on
about $338 million in assets, in which M&T will share in the
losses on the asset pools covered under the agreement.
Mainstreet's eight branches will reopen Saturday as operations
of Central Bank. Central Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of 0.10%
to assume the $434 million in deposits. It also entered into a
loss-share transaction with the FDIC on about $268 million of
Mainstreet's $459 million of assets.
Pacific Western entered into a loss-share agreement with the
FDIC on about $934 million of Affinity's assets. Branches in San
Francisco and San Mateo will reopen tomorrow under the Pacific
Western name, with the remaining branches reopening Monday.
-By Tom Barkley, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9275;
tom.barkley@dowjones.com