Infinite Unknown

Related articles:
- FDIC insurance fund is now broke, closes quarter $8.2 billion in debt
- FDIC Insuring 8200 Banks with $9 Trillion in Deposits and ZERO in the Deposit Insurance Fund

Regulators close regional banks in Florida, Kansas and Arizona, at a cost of $252.1 million to the FDIC.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Regulators closed regional banks in three U.S. states Friday, bringing the total number of failed banks this year to 133, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.

Customers of the failed banks are protected. The FDIC, which has insured bank deposits since the Great Depression, currently covers accounts up to $250,000.

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Tags: Bank Failure, Banking, Economy, FDIC, U.S.

Related article: Big California bank fails, has China branches (Reuters)

WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators closed five more banks on Friday, reaching 120 for the year, as souring loans and the lingering effects of last year’s financial crisis continued to weigh on the nation’s financial institutions.

San Francisco-based United Commercial Bank became the fifth and largest bank to be taken over by regulators on Friday evening, as annual failures hit levels not seen since the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s. There were 25 bank failures in 2008, and three in 2007.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in a release that East West Bank of Pasadena, Calif., would take over United Commercial’s roughly $7.5 billion in deposits, as well as $10.2 billion in assets. The deal includes all of United Commercial’s branches in the U.S., a branch in Hong Kong, and a subsidiary headquartered in Shanghai, China.

The agency said that it would continue to protect the bank’s domestic deposits, while Hong Kong deposits would be covered by the Hong Kong Deposit Protection Scheme. U.S. regulators are also working with their counterparts in China on the bank’s operations in that country, the agency said.

The failure is estimated to cost the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund an estimated $1.4 billion. That’s represents a significant hit for the fund, which has come under increasing pressure this year as failure costs have topped the agency’s initial loss projections. Federal regulators are currently considering a proposal that would have U.S. banks pay three years worth of premiums in advance in order to raise $45 billion to provide more liquidity to the fund.

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Tags: Bank Failure, Banking, Economy, FDIC

- FDIC Insuring 8200 Banks with $9 Trillion in Deposits and ZERO in the Deposit Insurance Fund.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Nine more U.S. banks, all owned by the same Illinois holding company, were closed Friday by regulators, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said U.S. Bank of Minneapolis would assume their deposits.

The closings brought the total to 115 in 2009 — the first year since 1992 that more than 100 banks have gone under.

The banks as of Sept. 30 had combined assets of $19.4 billion and deposits of $15.4 billion, the FDIC said.

The deposit insurance fund will take an estimated $2.5 billion hit, the FDIC said.

All nine banks were subsidiaries of FBOP Corp., a holding company based in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Ill., according to the FDIC.

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Tags: Bank Failure, Banking, Economy, FDIC, U.S.

Banks in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin, were shuttered, costing the FDIC an estimated $356.6 million.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The tally of bank failures easily broke past the No. 100 milestone on Friday night, with regulators announcing the year’s 106th closure.

That’s more than four times the number that were closed in 2008, and the highest total since 1992, when 181 banks failed.

Earlier on Friday evening the dubious honor of the 100th failure went to Partners Bank, of Naples, Fla., which had $65.5 million in assets, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The 101st failure was American United Bank, of Lawrenceville, Ga., which had $111 million in assets.

The 102nd failure was another Naples, Fla., institution: Hillcrest Bank Florida, which had $83 million in assets.

The 103rd closure was Bradenton, Fla.-based Flagship National Bank, with $190 million in assets.

The 104th was Bank of Elmwood, based in Racine, Wis., which had $327.4 million in assets.

The 105th failure was Riverview Community Bank of Otsego, Minn., with $108 million in assets.

The 106th failure was First Dupage Bank in Westmont, Ill., which had $279 million in assets.

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Tags: Bank Failure, Banking, Economy, FDIC, U.S.

Related articles:
- FDIC bank fund in the red until 2012 (CNN Money):
Last month, the agency painted an even more dire picture, estimating that the fund is currently in the red after taking into account future bank failures it anticipates will happen.
– Bank CEO: 1000 Banks to Fail In Next Two Years (CNBC)
- Meredith Whitney: There Will Be More Than 300 Bank Failures (Bloomberg)

But your money is absolutely safe and secure. Oh, wait a minute:
- FDIC Insuring 8200 Banks with $9 Trillion in Deposits and ZERO in the Deposit Insurance Fund.

NEW YORK (AP) – Regulators shut down San Joaquin Bank in California on Friday, marking the 99th failure this year of a federally insured bank.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of San Joaquin Bank, based in Bakersfield, Calif. It had $775 million in assets and $631 million in deposits as of Sept. 29.

The FDIC said the bank’s deposits will be assumed by Citizens Business Bank, based in Ontario, Calif. Its five branches will reopen Monday as branches of Citizens Business Bank.

San Joaquin Bank’s failure is expected to cost the FDIC’s insurance fund $103 million.

(The mantra:)
Depositors’ money is not in danger. The FDIC is backed by the government, and deposits are guaranteed up to $250,000 per account.

But the deposit insurance fund has fallen into the red. The FDIC board recently proposed to have U.S. banks prepay about $45 billion of their insurance premiums – three years’ worth.

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Tags: Bank Failure, Banking, Economy, FDIC, U.S.

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) — Banks in Minnesota, Michigan and Colorado were shut by regulators, bringing this year’s toll of U.S. failures to 98 amid the worst financial crisis in more than seven decades.

Jennings State Bank of Spring Grove, Minnesota, and Warren Bank of Warren, Michigan, were closed by state regulators and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver, the agency said yesterday in statements on its Web site. Southern Colorado National Bank of Pueblo was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC said.

“Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC,” the agency said. “There is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage.”

Regulators this year have closed the most banks since the savings-and-loan crisis of the early 1990s as lenders struggle with mounting losses on real-estate loans. U.S. job losses accelerated last month as the unemployment rate climbed to the highest level since 1983.

U.S. payrolls dropped by 263,000 in September, exceeding the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey, the Labor Department said yesterday. The jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent in August, while working hours matched a record low.

The FDIC deposit-insurance fund has been depleted by 120 bank failures in the past two years. The agency proposed asking banks to prepay three years of premiums to raise $45 billion. Yesterday’s failures cost the fund $293.3 million.

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Tags: Bank Failure, Banking, Economy, FDIC, Financial Crisis, U.S., Unemployment

Do you believe that the FDIC is able to protect every customer account up to $250,000?

Do you believe that your money is safe?

Banks on Sick List Top 400:
The FDIC’s insurance fund, which guards $6.2 trillion in U.S. deposits, fell to $10.4 billion at the quarter’s end, the lowest since mid-1993.
(AUGUST 28, 2009; Source: The Wall Street Journal)

Let me repeat this:
The FDIC guards $6.2 trillion in U.S. deposits with an insurance fund of $10.4 billion.

(Now the insurance fund is a lot less than $10.4 billion.)

Do you still believe that your money is safe?

- Bank CEO: 1000 Banks to Fail In Next Two Years (CNBC)

- Meredith Whitney: There Will Be More Than 300 Bank Failures (Bloomberg)

The only thing that will bring the system down immediately is a run on the banks and that is why the government/the Federal Reserve/the banksters play the confidence game on you.

The question is do you buy it?

This crisis is not over. It has just started. The worst is yet to come

Regulators close banks in Illinois, Minnesota and Washington at a cost of more than $2 billion to the FDIC.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Regulators closed one large bank in Illinois on Friday in one of the biggest collapses of the year, while two other smaller failures pushed the 2009 total to 92.

Customers of the banks, however, are protected. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, which has insured bank deposits since the Great Depression, covers customer accounts up to $250,000.

In Illinois, 16 banks have failed so far this year, including Chicago-based Corus Bank, which was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Friday.

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Tags: Bank Failure, Banking, Economy, FDIC, U.S.

Meredith Whitney, the analyst who predicted that Citigroup Inc. would cut its dividend last year, said the number of U.S. bank failures will quadruple as lenders struggle with bad loans. (Bloomberg)

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) — Meredith Whitney, the analyst who predicted that Citigroup Inc. would cut its dividend last year, said the number of U.S. bank failures will quadruple as lenders struggle with bad loans.

“There will be over 300 bank closures,” Whitney said in an interview with Bloomberg Television from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. “The small-business owner on Main Street continues to see liquidity come away.”

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Tags: Bank Failure, Banking, Financial Crisis, Meredith Whitney, U.S.

June 21 (Bloomberg) — Banks in North Carolina, Georgia and Kansas with combined assets of $1.5 billion were seized by regulators last week, costing the U.S. insurance fund $363 million and pushing this year’s tally of failures to 40.

Southern Community Bank of Fayetteville, Georgia, and 111- year-old Cooperative Bank in Wilmington, North Carolina, were closed June 19 by state officials, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency shut First National Bank of Anthony, Kansas. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver.

Southern Community’s $307 million in deposits were bought by United Community Bank of Blairsville, Georgia, and most of Cooperative’s $774 million in deposits went to First Bank in Troy, North Carolina, the FDIC said. Bank of Kansas in South Hutchinson acquired First Bank’s $142.5 million in deposits. The acquiring banks are assuming a combined $1.47 billion in assets, mostly loans, and signed agreements with the FDIC to share more than 80 percent losses with the government.

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Tags: Bank Failure, Banking, Economy, FDIC, U.S.

Silva tells CNBC up to a thousand face failure or forced mergers

Financial analyst Ralph Silva of TowerGroup told CNBC this morning that he expects no less than one third of banks to fail in 2009 and that anything up to a thousand could collapse if they don’t merge.

Silva said that only five or six global banks have enough funds to survive comfortably throughout 2009.

“The rest of the banks, and that means a thousand other banks, don’t have enough money to get themselves through 2009,” added Silva.

“In 2009 we’re gonna see one third of the banks in the G8 countries disappear, either being merged, forced or not forced, or completely disappearing,” said Silva.

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Tags: Bank Failure, Banking, Economy, Financial Crisis, G8, Politics, Recession