24 Banks Close in 5 Weeks

It has been 5 weeks since I last updated my bank closing list and a lot has happened in that time. I noted in my July 18th post that the pace of bank closings has picked up and indeed it has.

On Friday, July 24th, seven banks were closed. In Clarence, New York, Waterford Village Bank was closed and Evans Bank took over. Waterford Village Bank had only one office and deposits of about $58 million. The estimated cost to the insurance fund is $5.6 million or 10 cents on the dollar.

On the same day, six banks were closed in Georgia. The six banks were all subsidiaries of Security Bank of Macon, Georgia. The six banks involved were: Security Bank of Bibb County, Macon, GA, with $1 billion in deposits; Security Bank of Houston County, Perry, GA, with $320 million in deposits; Security Bank of Jones County, Gray, GA, with $387 million in deposits; Security Bank of Gwinnett County, Suwanee, GA, with $292 million in deposits; Security Bank of North Metro, Woodstock, GA, with $212 million in deposits; and Security Bank of North Fulton, Alpharetta, GA, with $191 million in deposits. Security Bank of Gwinnett County was number 32 on my list. Security Bank of North Metro was number 43.

The six banks had a total of 20 branches, which reopened as branches of State Bank and Trust Company of Pinehurst, Georgia. The estimated cost to the insurance fund is $807 million or 34 cents per dollar on the total deposits of about $2.4 billion.

On July 31st, five banks were closed.

First State Bank of Altus had one main office and one branch at the local Wal-Mart. It was number 26 on my list. The deposits were taken over by Herring Bank of Amarillo, Texas. First State Bank of Altus had deposits of $98.2 million. The closing is estimated to cost the FDIC $25.2 million or 26 cents per dollar.

Integrity Bank of Jupiter, Florida, with one office, has been taken over by Stonegate Bank of Fort
Lauderdale. Integrity Bank had deposits of $102 million and the closing will cost the FDIC insurance fund $46 million or 45 cents per dollar.

Peoples Community Bank of West Chester, Ohio had 19 branches. These have now all been taken over by First Financial Bank of Hamilton, Ohio. Peoples Community had deposits of $598.2 million and the estimated cost to the FDIC insurance fund to make the depositors whole is $129.5 million or 22 cents per dollar.

First BankAmericano in New Jersey had six branches. They have now been taken over by Crown Bank of Brick, NJ. First BankAmericano had deposits of about $157 million and the cost to the insurance fund is estimated at $15 million or 10 cents per dollar.

The fifth bank to close on July 31st was Mutual Bank of Harvey, Illinois. Mutual Bank has 12 branches and was number 52 on my list. The FDIC had to look far and wide to find someone willing to take over this bank, eventually settling on United Central Bank of Garland Texas. Mutual Bank had deposits of $1.6 billion and the estimated cost to the insurance fund is $696 million or 44 cents per dollar.

On August 7th, two banks in Florida and one in Oregon were closed.

First State Bank of Sarasota had nine branches with deposits of $387 million. These have now been taken over by Stearns Bank from St. Cloud, Minnesota. Stearns Bank is establishing quite a presence in the Sarasota area because they also took over the four branches of Community National Bank of Sarasota County. Community National Bank had deposits of $93 million. The FDIC estimates the cost to the insurance fund for these two bank failures at $116 million and $24 million, or 30 cents on the dollar and 26 cents on the dollar respectively.

Community First Bank of Prineville, Oregon also closed on August 7th. Community First had eight branches and deposits of approximately $182 million. The offices were reopened by Home Federal Bank of Nampa, Idaho. The cost to the FDIC is estimated at $45 million or 25 cents on the dollar.

Last week, five banks closed including two in Arizona.

Dwelling House Savings and Loan of Pittsburgh closed its one tiny office which was taken over by Pittsburgh banking giant PNC Bank, NA. If you recall, PNC bought up National City Bank, a regional bank based in Cleveland with bail-out money in a deal announced last October. Dwelling House had deposits of a mere $13.8 million and the deal is expected to cost the FDIC $6.8 million or 49 cents on the dollar.

The big closure last week was Colonial Bank of Montgomery, Alabama. Colonial Bank had 346 branches in five states. The entire network with $20 billion in deposits spread across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Nevada was taken over by BB&T of Winston-Salem. The estimated cost to the insurance fund is $2.8 billion, which, by some accounts, is more than the FDIC has left.

The empty insurance fund hasn't stopped the FDIC from shutting down more banks. Union Bank in Gilbert, Arizona and Community Bank of Arizona in Phoenix were also shut down last week and their operations were taken over by MidFirst Bank of Oklahoma City. Union Bank had one office with $112 million in deposits and Community Bank of Arizona had four branches with $143.8 million in deposits. In the case of Union Bank, most of the money was hot brokered deposits. $88 million was in brokered deposits and only $24 million was from local retail customers. MidFirst Bank will not be taking over the brokered deposits. The cost to the FDIC is estimated at $61 million and $25.5 million or 54 cents on the dollar and 18 cents on the dollar respectively. It's a sign of the times that Union Bank was allowed attract 78% of their deposit base through high-yielding FDIC-insured CDs and then lose over 50 cents on the dollar before it was shut down by regulators. Union Bank needed to be shut down and it should have been closed long ago.

The fifth bank to be closed last week was a bank nobody wanted. Community Bank of Nevada had 12 branches and deposits of $1.38 billion. The FDIC set up a temporary bank, called the Deposit Insurance National Bank to give depositors 30 days to close their accounts and transfer their money elsewhere. Nevada State Bank has agreed to lend a few people to staff the temporary bank. This give time for existing checks to clear before customers have to close their checking accounts. The estimated cost to the insurance fund is $781.5 million or a whopping 57 cents on the dollar. I guess they like to gamble in Las Vegas.

Which brings us to yesterday when another four banks were closed.

Two of the banks were in Georgia. ebank, with one office in Atlanta was closed and the operations and $130 million in deposits were taken over by Stearns Bank of St. Cloud, Minnesota. This follows Stearns Bank's takeover of two banks in Florida August 7th. ebank was number 29 on my list. The cost to the insurance fund is estimated to be $63 million or 48 cents on the dollar.

The second Georgia bank to close was First Coweta of Newnan. First Coweta had deposits of $155 million at four branches. These will be taken over by United Bank of Zebulun, Georgia. The estimated cost to the FDIC is $48 million or 31 cents on the dollar.

CapitalSouth Bank in Birmingham was also closed. CapitalSouth had deposits of $546 million at ten branches. The operations will be taken over by IBERIABANK of Lafayette, Louisiana. The FDIC estimates the cost to the insurance fund will be $151 million or 28 cents on the dollar.

The big one yesterday was Guaranty Bank of Austin. Guaranty Bank had 103 branches in Texas and 59 branches in California. Total deposits were approximately $12 billion. The deposits and branches will be taken over by BBVA Compass which is owned by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, the second-largest bank in Spain. BBVA Compass adds to their 579 branches across the south. Sister bank BBVA Bancomer has another 32 former Valley Bank branches in California. The FDIC estimates the cost of closing Guaranty Bank at $3 billion or 25 cents on the dollar.

So I cross off five more banks from my list, leaving 37 banks left on my current list of the 50 65 Banks Most Likely to Close in 2009.

1 Magnet Bank, Salt Lake City, UT
2 Citizens Community Bank, Ridgewood, NJ
3 FirstBank Financial Services, McDonough, GA
4 Westsound Bank, Bremerton, WA
5 Suburban Federal Savings Bank, Crofton, MD
6 America West Bank, Layton, UT
7 Silver Falls Bank, Silverton, OR
8 Ocala National Bank, Ocala, FL
9 Sun Security Bank, Ellington, MO
10 Eastern Savings Bank, FSB, Hunt Valley, MD
11 Alliance Bank, Culver City, CA
12 FirstCity Bank, Stockbridge, GA
13 Chestatee State Bank, Dawsonville, GA
14 First Security National Bank, Norcross, GA
15 Ocean Bank, Miami, FL
16 Family Bank and Trust Co., Palos Hills, IL
17 Southern Community Bank, Fayetteville, GA
18 BankCherokee, Saint Paul, MN
19 First Tuskegee Bank, Tuskegee, AL
20 Federal Trust Bank, Sanford, FL
21 Pinnacle Bank, Beaverton, OR
22 Lake Country Community Bank, Morristown, MN
23 Mesa Bank, Mesa, AZ
24 Bank of Wyoming, Thermopolis, WY
25 1st American State Bank of Minnesota, Hancock, MN
26 First State Bank of Altus, Altus, OK
27 EvaBank, Eva, AL
28 Strategic Capital Bank, Champaign, IL
29 Ebank, Atlanta, GA
30 Polk County Bank, Johnston, IA
31 Parkway Bank, Rogers, AR
32 Security Bank of Gwinnett County, Suwanee, GA
33 State Bank of Park Rapids, Park Rapids, MN
34 Herrin Security Bank, Herrin, IL
35 Omni National Bank, Atlanta, GA
36 Northpointe Bank, Grand Rapids, MI
37 Towne Bank of Arizona, Mesa, AZ
38 Timberland Bank, El Dorado, AR
39 Blue Ridge Savings Bank, Inc., Asheville, NC
40 First Piedmont Bank, Winder, GA
41 Select Bank, Grand Rapids, MI
42 Oxford Bank, Oxford, MI
43 Security Bank of North Metro, Woodstock, GA
44 MetroPacific Bank, Irvine, CA
45 Earthstar Bank, Southampton, PA
46 Neighborhood Community Bank, Newnan, GA
47 The Home Savings and Loan Company, Youngstown, OH
48 Heritage Community Bank, Glenwood, IL
49 Vineyard Bank, NA, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
50 Community Bank of Lemont, Lemont, IL
51 Mainstreet Bank, Forest Lake, MN
52 Mutual Bank, Harvey, IL
53 Freedom Bank of Georgia, Commerce, GA
54 Newton County Loan & Savings FSB, Goodland, IN
55 Riverside Bank, Cape Coral, FL
56 BankUnited, Coral Gables, FL
57 American Sterling Bank, Sugar Creek, MO
58 The Park Avenue Bank, New York, NY
59 First Commerce Community Bank, Douglasville, GA
60 Centennial Bank, Ogden, UT
61 Warren Bank, Warren, MI
62 Peoples First Community Bank, Panama City, FL
63 Corus Bank, Chicago, IL
64 Butler Bank, Lowell, MA
65 Republic Federal Bank, Miami, FL