"The FDIC and the state determined that the bank was insolvent and not in a safe and sound condition due mainly to the current economic situation," said Michael Jones, chief examiner with the state Financial Institutions department. "Their loan values were dropping, and the bank needed to raise its reserves to offset the fact that the value of its real estate loan portfolio was dropping because people aren't repaying their mortgage loans and foreclosures were rising." - Daily Herald

"New Jersey regulators on Friday closed Citizens Community Bank, making it the 31st to fail this year as institutions crumble at a quicker pace under the weight of the ongoing financial crisis." - Easybourse.com

"Unlike the 31 other banks that have failed so far this year, Silverton did not take deposits from, or make loans to consumers. Instead, its primary purpose was to offer a variety of services such as check clearing and credit card operations to community banks around the country that find it too costly to do this on their own." - CNN Money

"In the last days of the First Bank of Idaho, bank officials thought the 12-year-old institution might be spared.

Officers said they were within days of pumping millions of dollars into the community bank to increase its capital, give it the cash needed to meet depositors' demands, and avert a possible shutdown by federal regulators. Give us time, they told the regulators. We'll save our bank.

But nervous depositors were taking their money elsewhere. Regulators weren't convinced investors would give First Bank a cash infusion quickly enough to keep it from running out of cash by the end of April.

So on April 24, the Office of Thrift Supervision, which oversees savings associations like First Bank, appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as the bank's receiver. U.S. Bank took over First Bank's branches, deposits and some assets.

First Bank of Idaho ceased to exist. It was the first Idaho bank seized by the federal government since 1988." - Idaho Statesman

"First Bank of Beverly Hills, the Calabasas institution battered by losses on condominium construction loans, was seized by regulators Friday, becoming the second bank in Los Angeles County to fail this year. The closure comes more than a week after the bank announced that a merger agreement with an investment firm had been terminated. " - LA Business Journal

"Federal regulators had ordered Michigan Heritage to find a buyer by April 15 after finding the bank to be "critically undercapitalized." It had $185 million in assets and $152 million in deposits at the end of December. The failure will cost the federal government $71 million." - Freep.com

"Fitting the familiar template of other Georgia banks to fail in the on-going economic downturn, American Southern was swamped with bad home building loans as the mortgage boom ended in 2007.As of the fourth quarter 2008, the most recent data available for American Southern, roughly one-fourth of its total loan portfolio was in some stage of delinquency." - Bizjournals.com

"The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took control on Friday and chose Metcalf Bank of Lee's Summit to assume American Sterling's deposits and buy about $173 million of its assets." - KCMB TV

"Shares in the holding company, Great Basin Financial Corp., traded as high as $9.10 over the past 52 weeks on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board. Shares closed Tuesday at 9 cents, up 3 cents for the day." - Las Vegas Review

"The FDIC took over the bank Friday, which came in response to the bank’s failure to find the capital necessary to cushion itself against a growing list of bad loans. The bank had been operating under a cease and desist order since December, when the FDIC ordered the bank to stop its risky lending, fire its president and chief loan officer and find extra capital. The bank had found an investment group willing to put in $30 million, but it backed out earlier this month. The FDIC put it up for sale, but there were no takers." - Greeley Tribune

"The troubled and tumultuous journey of Cape Fear Bank came to a sudden end Friday when the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks’ office closed down the Wilmington lender and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. arranged a sale of the bank's assets to the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Charleston, S.C.

Cape Fear, a state-chartered lender formerly known as the Bank of Wilmington, is the 22nd U.S. bank to fail this year and the first to fail in North Carolina since the federally chartered Crown National Bank of Charlotte went under in 1993." - BizJournals.com

"...Atlanta-based Omni National Bank made a fateful bet earlier this decade to ramp up its real estate lending.

But Omni had a different game plan than its peers. Instead of funneling money to home builders and developers working in the far-flung suburbs, Omni targeted a long-overlooked corner of the market: low-income urban neighborhoods.

The bank’s strategy involved making “community redevelopment” loans to investors who planned to buy run-down homes, fix them up and sell them. Between 2004 and 2007, the size of Omni’s community redevelopment program quadrupled to $182 million, accounting for more than a quarter of the bank’s total loan portfolio.

For a time, the strategy paid off as Omni rode the coattails of the booming real estate market. Home prices in some intown Atlanta neighborhoods doubled and even tripled within a few years.

But the bank’s earnings evaporated when the housing bubble burst." - AJC.com

"Teambank, a bank with $669.8 million in assets and deposits of $492.8 million was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. FDIC was named receiver, and Great Southern Bank, Springfield, MO agreed to assume all of the failed bank's deposits." - BankInfoSecurity.com

""The OCC acted after finding that the bank had experienced substantial dissipation of assets and earnings due to unsafe and unsound practices," the regulator said in a statement.

The bank had a high concentration of land acquisition, development and construction loans, said FDIC spokesman David Barr." - Denver Post

"FirstCity Bank in Stockbridge was closed Friday by state regulators, becoming the eighth Georgia bank to fail in the past seven months.

The small bank, founded in 1905, collapsed amid a rising tide of bad loans tied to the battered real estate market. Last year, FirstCity lost $8.3 million and reported $24.5 million in non-performing loans, a four-fold increase from the year before." - AJC.com

"Freedom Bank of Georgia was seized by regulators, the 17th bank closed this year, as the recession persists and a jump in unemployment pushed more borrowers behind on home loan payments." - Bloomberg

"The bank was given a cease-and-desist order last year by state regulators. It had reported at that time that 12 percent of its loan portfolio was in default." - Gainesville Times

"...19.2 percent of all its loans are 90 days or more overdue. Of those, 63.3 percent were construction and development loans. A year ago, loans past due 90 days or more represented 7.5 percent of the bank’s loan portfolio.

The bank’s provision for loan losses -- how much it took out of income to cover loan losses -- was $10.8 million. Last year, the provision was $5.3 million.

The bank also reported $163,000 in foreclosed real estate. The year prior, it reported none." - Las Vegas Sun

"The south suburban Glenwood Bank ran into trouble with a series of bad construction loans with suburban residential developers. The closing came four months after regulators ordered the bank to strengthen management, improve lending standards and raise capital." - Chicagoist.com

"Silver Falls had been experiencing critically low levels of capital, ultimately becoming insolvent...

"Despite many efforts, such as a recent stock offering, Silver Falls Bank management was not able to address these significant problems in a timely manner..."

In a last-ditch effort to remain alive, Silver Falls initiated the capital-raising effort last month. But it wasn't enough, in the minds of state regulators." - Oregon Live

"Oregon suffered its first bank failure in 17 years Friday afternoon when state regulators closed Pinnacle Bank, a small, one-office institution in Beaverton...

The deepening recession has led to a surge in bad loans at banks across the country. The bad loans have weakened some banks' balance sheets to the point that regulators have stepped in and closed their doors." - OregonLive.com

"Federal regulators Friday closed Riverside, which was felled by the Southwest Florida real estate crash that has caused borrowers to walk away from mortgages and construction loans." - News-Press.com

Federal regulators closed Corn Belt Bank and Trust Company today. Prior to the closing, Regulators had filed a cease and desist order against Corn Belt for an inadequate board. According to a report:

"It "was reprimanded for operating with an inadequate capital level and for 'operating in a manner which has resulted in inadequate earnings.'

The bank's lending practices include too many bad loans and not adequately diversifying its loan base. The bank also has inadequate liquidity, the 13-page order said. The bank also must name a new chief executive within 45 days and improve bank operations." - Chicago Tribune

"Sherman County Bank, Loup City, Nebraska, was closed today by the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Heritage Bank, Wood River, Nebraska, to assume all of the deposits of Sherman County Bank." - Fdic.gov

"It marks the end of an era for both County and the county...Merced's biggest bank and its only publicly traded company has folded.

State regulators said late Friday they are closing County Bank. All its offices will reopen either today or Monday as branches of San Rafael-based Westamerica Bank.

County Bank, owned until yesterday by the one-bank holding company, Capital Corp of the West, becomes the latest -- and biggest -- local casualty of the credit crunch, foreclosure crisis and septic recession choking the national, state and county economies." - Merced Sun Star

"Like many community banks, Alliance failed when loans to real estate developers went bad amid the housing meltdown. According to FDIC documents, it posted a net loss of $65 million in the fourth quarter – largely because it set aside money in loan-loss reserves." - SignOnSanDiego.com

"The bank failures keep piling up in Georgia...Federal and state regulators on Friday seized FirstBank Financial Services of McDonough. It is the sixth Georgia bank to fail in the past six months.

FirstBank Financial, which opened in 2002, is one of Georgia’s smaller banks and appears to have fallen into the same trap that snagged Georgia’s other failed institutions: Its loan portfolio was heavily concentrated in real estate." - AJC.com

"Financial problems have prompted federal regulators to shut down a major bank in Marion County. According to government officials, Ocala National Bank was using “unsafe and unsound” practices.

Under the watch of armed guards, teams of federal regulators spent Saturday at Ocala National Bank's headquarters sorting through the books. Marion County Sheriff's Deputies guarded each of the bank's branches.

...Ocala National Bank is the first locally based bank to fail because of the foreclosure crisis. Regulators say the bank was about to run out of money, but because the FDIC stepped in, every account is safe." - WFTV.com

"The federal Office of Thrift Supervision closed Crofton's Suburban Federal Savings Bank Friday evening - the first Maryland bank shut down by regulators in 16 years.

...The OTS said Suburban's board did not properly oversee an "aggressive" lending program that began in 2005, amid the mortgage frenzy.

That program started with mortgage loans that required little or no proof of the borrower's salary and other income. Suburban then expanded into residential construction, development and land loans. But as those loans began to go bad starting in 2006, they drained Suburban of its lifeblood- capital." - BizJournals.com

"The Utah Department of Financial Institutions on Friday declared Cottonwood Heights-based MagnetBank insolvent and stepped in to seize the three-year old state-chartered financial institution.

'We would have much preferred finding someone to purchase MagnetBank,' said David Barr, spokesman for the FDIC. 'But over the past weeks we had contacted more than 320 potential bidders and didn't find anyone who was interested.'

The last time the FDIC was unable to find someone to take over a failed bank was in 2004...the FDIC will mail checks to the bank's ordinary depositors Monday morning."- sltrib.com

"First Centennial Bank of Redlands, California, was seized by a state regulator, the third U.S. bank to fail this year, as the recession deepens and the slump in the housing industry sends home foreclosures to records.

... First Centennial Bancorp, the parent of the failed bank, lost 99 percent of its market value in the past year." - Bloomberg

"Regulators on Friday shut down National Bank of Commerce, a small Illinois bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the Berkeley, Ill., bank, which had $430.9 million in assets and $402.1 million in deposits as of Jan. 7.

It was the first federally insured bank to fail and be shuttered by regulators this year amid the pressures of tumbling home prices, rising mortgage foreclosures and tighter credit." - Chicago Tribune

"The bank was heavily exposed to the faltering real estate sector through loans to builders and developers. Construction and development loans accounted for more than 36 percent of the bank's total portfolio.

Mike Worthy, the bank's CEO, said in early 2008 that the collapse of the residential sector was stunning in its speed, made worse by the widespread presence of speculators with hopes of flipping houses for big bucks." - OregonLive.com

"Haven Trust Bank is the fifth Georgia bank to fail during 2008.

Like other shuttered institutions in that state, Haven Trust had a high concentration of commercial and residential real estate loans in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

The bank had $572 million in total assets when it was closed and was assigned a D- (Weak) financial strength rating by TheStreet.com Ratings back in June, after loan quality sank in the first quarter.

Haven also slipped below well-capitalized status at the end of the first quarter, since its risk-based capital ratio was 9.93%, just under the 10% regulatory threshold for a well-capitalized bank." - TheStreet.com

"The FDIC said in addition to assuming all of the failed bank's deposits, BB&T will buy about $55 million of Haven Trust's assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition...

The FDIC estimated the failure of Sanderson costs the deposit insurance fund about $12.5 million.

Bank failures have spiked this year as mortgage delinquencies and liquidity concerns have cramped the industry. Just three U.S. banks failed in 2007." - Reuters

"First Georgia Community's failure, like other institutions seized by bank regulators this Fall, was driven by an aggressive expansion into new geographic areas and an over-reliance on residential real estate to fuel loan growth...

All were marked by rapid growth during the housing boom, with a reliance on residential construction lending...

In third quarter, the bank reported $150 million in total loans and $50 million in loans in nonaccrual status, or loans that are no longer accruing interest on the bank's balance sheet because they are unlikely to be repaid.

Roughly one third of all the loans outstanding at the bank were noncurrent." - BizJournals.com

"On Friday night, federal regulators seized the iconic Inland Empire institution that was started on Christmas Eve 1892 and sold it to the subsidiary of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp...
...
PFF's bank branches saw a run-off in deposits worth $820 million between March and September, adding to the troubled company's liquidity problems.
...
"We're trying to keep as many people as we can," Steve Dale, spokesman for U.S. Bancorp, said about PFF bank employees. He couldn't say whether the company is considering layoffs.
...
David Sweet, a company spokesman, couldn't say whether CEO Kevin McCarthy, CFO Gregory Talbott and other executives are still slated to receive a combined $8.5 million in severance pay.

"On Friday, federal regulators shut down struggling Downey Savings and shifted its deposits to Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp's U.S. Bank.

Downey had been the largest savings and loan based in the county with assets of $12.8 billion and deposits of $9.7 billion as of Sept. 30.

The thrift operator struggled for months with a rise in bad loans and increased costs related to homes it's taken over." - Orange County Business Journal

"Earlier on Friday, the FDIC and Georgia regulators announced the seizure of Loganville, Ga.-based The Community Bank...All of The Community Bank's deposits have been transferred to Tappahannock, Va.-based Bank of Essex, the FDIC said, and all four of The Community Bank's branches will reopen Monday as Bank of Essex." - The Walton Tribune

"Regulators have shut down Los Angeles-based Security Pacific Bank, marking the 19th failure this year of a federally insured bank.

... The FDIC says all of the bank's deposits will be assumed by Pacific Western Bank, a unit of San Diego-based PacWest Bancorp. Its four offices will reopen Monday as branches of Pacific Western." - Associated Press

"U.S. regulators on Friday seized Franklin Bank SSB, a Houston-based community bank, and Security Pacific Bank, a small Los Angeles-based bank, as slumping home prices and the worsening economic crisis take an increasing toll.

Franklin Bank, which has been struggling in recent days to boost its capital position, is the third-largest U.S. bank failure this year." - Reuters

"Freedom Bank of Bradenton, Florida, became the 17th U.S. bank seized by regulators this year as the deepest housing slump since the Great Depression triggers record foreclosures and mounting losses... he bank has lost $258 million in the past two quarters on rising losses on real-estate loans." - Bloomberg

"The financial crisis claimed another local bank Friday as regulators closed Alpha Bank and Trust of Alpharetta.

...Alpha was high on a recent list of banks with a disproportionate number of problem loans. Using the “Texas ratio,” which compares problem loans to capital and reserves available to absorb losses, FIG Partners calculated Alpha had the fourth worst ratio among area banks.

As of June 30, more than three-quarters of Alpha Bank’s $305.7 million loan portfolio was concentrated in construction and development loans." - Atlanta Journal Constitution

"In the first Illinois bank closing since 2002, Meridian Bank in Downstate Eldred was closed by federal and state regulators Friday.

Meridian Bank had $39.18 million in assets and $36.88 million in deposits as of Sept. 25.

Meridian is the first bank to be closed in Illinois since Universal FSB of Chicago, on June 27, 2002." - Chicago Tribune

Main Street Bank of Northville, Michigan, with $98 million in assets and $86 million in deposits, was turned over to the FDIC yesterday. Monroe Bank & Trust of Monroe, Michigan, bought the deposits and today will open its two offices near Detroit as branches.

"The dramatic downturn in the residential real estate market unfortunately knocked the wind" out of Main Street, Ken Ross, commissioner of Michigan's Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation, said in a statement. - Bloomberg

"J.P. Morgan Chase bought the bulk of Washington Mutual’s banking operations Thursday in a deal orchestrated by federal regulators who had seized control of the troubled thrift.

In a sign of the bank’s worsening condition, regulators said WaMu had lost $16.7 billion in deposits since Sept. 15.

Saying WaMu had insufficient liquidity to meet its obligations and was “in an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business,” the federal Office of Thrift Supervision closed the bank and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver. The FDIC held a bidding process that ended in the sale to J.P. Morgan.

Regulators, who termed this the largest U.S. bank failure ever, said there will be no effect on the bank’s depositors, but it appeared the WaMu shareholders would be wiped out as a result of the deal." - Portland Business Journal

"Ameribank, Inc., was closed today by the Office of the Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named receiver. The FDIC entered into purchase and assumption agreements with Pioneer Community Bank, Inc., Iaeger, West Virginia, and The Citizens Savings Bank, Martins Ferry, Ohio to take over all of the deposits and certain assets of Ameribank, Inc., Northfork, West Virginia." - FDIC.gov

"Regulators on Friday shut down Silver State Bank, saying the Nevada bank failed because of losses on soured loans, mainly in commercial real estate and land development.

It was the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank." - Associated Press

“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and state regulators Friday shut down Integrity Bank, a troubled local lender hurt by the real estate crisis.

...The FBI, which investigates possible financial crimes, is looking into the situation, said agency spokesman Stephen Emmett. The “FBI is working with the FDIC” on the case, but it “is not prepared to discuss Integrity Bank at this time.” - Atlanta Journal Constitution

“Columbian Bank and Trust Co. of Topeka, Kansas, was closed by U.S. regulators, the nation’s ninth bank to collapse this year amid bad real-estate loans and writedowns stemming from a drop in home prices.

The bank, with $752 million in assets and $622 million in total deposits, was shuttered by the Kansas state bank commissioner’s office and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the FDIC said yesterday in a statement." - Prison Planet

“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday it has taken control of the First Priority Bank of Bradenton, Florida, and that SunTrust Banks Inc. will assume the bank's deposits.

First Priority is the eighth U.S. bank to fail this year in the aftermath of the mortgage crisis, and the first Florida bank failure since March 2004. Andrew Gray, spokesman for the FDIC, said the bank had "significant loan losses" in the Florida commercial real estate market that eroded its capital." - International Herald Tribune

“Bad loans to developers and home builders in Arizona and Nevada led to the failure Friday of an Arizona company's two banks, including First Heritage Bank in Newport Beach.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized the banks late in the day and turned over operations to Mutual of Omaha Bank, part of the large Mutual of Omaha insurance company." - Los Angeles Times

“The FDIC announced Friday evening that Mutual of Omaha was buying First National, the first Nevada-based bank to fail in 18 years.

First National Bank is the fifth bank and the biggest bank to fail in Nevada since the Great Depression. It is the seventh FDIC-insured bank to shut down this year. " - Las Vegas Review Journal

“According to the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), in the nine months before it went into receivership, IndyMac incurred significant losses, severely depleting capital and jeopardizing the institution’s continued viability. IndyMac’s mortgage banking operations focused on Alt-A single family mortgages, which the bank could not securitize and sell in late 2007 due to the decline in the secondary market for non-agency mortgage loans.

... On July 11, 2008, citing liquidity concerns, IndyMac Bank was placed into conservatorship by the FDIC. A bridge bank, IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, was established to assume control of IndyMac Bank's assets and secured liabilities (such as insured deposit accounts), and the bridge bank was put into conservatorship under the control of the FDIC.

... On June 30, 2008, the Center for Responsible Lending, a Washington think tank, released a report compiling information from various lawsuits filed by customers and former employees of IndyMac Bank, and alleged that managers and supervisors were being pressured to approve loans or risk being fired. Before its collapse, IndyMac denied the allegations in the report.

On July 16, 2008, an unnamed US Government official said that the FBI is investigating IndyMac for possible fraud. While it is not clear if the investigation began before the bank was taken over by the FDIC, the investigation appears to be focused on the company itself, and not individuals within the company." - Wikipedia

“It isn’t easy for 75 federal officials and contractors to slip into a small town undetected and liquidate an 89-year-old bank without anyone knowing. But that’s what just happened in this old railroad town, population 3,200. It’s a scene that’s likely to repeat itself across the country as banks struggle through a painful credit cycle, overwhelmed by troubled mortgages and soured construction loans.

First Integrity, which had two branches and $55 million in assets, was the fourth FDIC-insured bank to fail this year. That’s one more than during the entire three-year stretch leading up to 2008. Some analysts predict that as many as 150 banks, mostly small and medium-size, could fail over the next three years." - Charleston.net

“In overdeveloped Northwest Arkansas, real-estate officials estimate that property values have been steadily declining since 2007. Early in the decade, the region saw a population explosion as more than 1,000 people a month moved to Bentonville, Rogers and several nearby communities to work for Wal-Mart or one of its 1,250 locally based suppliers. Developers began building new houses at a frantic pace, carving up sprawling farmland into fancy developments with names like Stone Meadow and Kensington Hills.

Then the housing market collapsed. Soon developers were defaulting on their loans and declaring bankruptcy. In May, federal regulators seized one Northwest Arkansas lender, ANB Financial, whose portfolio was overloaded with bad construction loans." - Galesburg.com

“The demise of the bank is a direct result of alleged improprieties by former bank management, which resulted in past-due loans not being reported and the true condition of the bank being misrepresented,” Eric McClure, Missouri’s commissioner of finance, said in a statement. - BankImplode.com

"Federal regulators says they’ve closed ANB Financial National Association banks after discovering “unsafe and unsound” business practices there...Observers have been watching for signs of bank distress resulting from the mortgage crisis." - The Ray Team

"Less than a week after the failure of NetBank, federal regulators on Thursday announced the failure of an Ohio institution that also leaves some large depositors in limbo.

The Ohio Superintendent of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced the $86.7 million Miami Valley Bank's closing and the transfer of its insured deposits to The Citizens Banking Co., of Sandusky, Ohio.
...
This time, however, the scenario may be more painful than the NetBank's closing. While NetBank's depositors received an immediate payout of 50 cents on the dollar for uninsured deposits, Miami Valley's depositors have received nothing so far. " - TheStreet.com

"NetBank Inc., an online bank with $2.5 billion in assets, was shut down by the government on Friday because of an unsustainable level of mortgage defaults.

It was the largest thrift to fail since the tail end of the savings and loan crisis more than 14 years ago. " - CNN Money

"No one had an inkling something was wrong at Metropolitan Savings Bank, the region's smallest bank, nestled in the heart of Lawrenceville.

The financial institution, founded in 1892, kept a very low profile. Yet, like so many other small Pittsburgh banks and savings institutions, it met a particular need: Providing mortgages for a very localized customer base." - Pittsburgh Tribune Review