List of US banks closed by feds jumps to 89

[September 05, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- The crippled economy and increasing loan defaults have forced financial regulators to close even more banks, including the only branch of the First Bank of Kansas City, which is reopening under a new name after its deposits are assumed.

The number of banks that have failed this year stands at 89 after regulators on Friday shut down banks in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Arizona.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., an independent agency whose goal is to maintain stability and public confidence in the financial system, took over First Bank of Kansas City, which was based in Kansas City, Mo., and had $16 million in assets and $15 million in deposits. It shut down Sioux City, Iowa-based Vantus Bank, with $458 million in assets and $368 million in deposits.

First Bank of Kansas City's deposits will be assumed by Great American Bank, based in De Soto, Kan., the FDIC said. It was to reopen Saturday as a branch of Great American Bank.

The FDIC seized two banks in Illinois: Oak Forest-based InBank, with $212 million in assets and $199 million in deposits, and Platinum Community Bank in Rolling Meadows, which had $346 million in assets and $305 million in deposits.

First State Bank in Flagstaff, Ariz., also was shuttered. It had $105 million in assets and deposits totaling $95 million.

Vantus Bank's deposits will be assumed by Great Southern Bank in Springfield, Mo. All 15 of Vantus Bank's branches will reopen Saturday as branches of Great Southern Bank.

The FDIC agreed to share with Great Southern Bank losses on about $338 million of Vantus Bank's assets.

Nearly all of InBank's deposits will be assumed by MB Financial Bank in Chicago. Some brokered deposits won't be assumed by MB Financial Bank. InBank's three branches were to reopen Saturday as MB Financial Bank branches.

The FDIC didn't find another bank to take over Platinum Community Bank's branches or deposits. Instead, it will pay out insured deposits at Platinum Community Bank. Government direct deposits, such as Social Security and veterans' payments, will be handled by MB Financial Bank's Palatine, Ill., branch.

The FDIC insures accounts up to $250,000. Depositors with accounts larger than $250,000 will be able to receive details about whether their accounts are fully covered beginning Tuesday by checking the FDIC's Web site.

First State Bank's deposits will be acquired by Sunwest Bank in Tustin, Calif. First State Bank's six branches will reopen Tuesday as branches of Sunwest Bank.

The failure of First Bank of Kansas City is expected to cost the FDIC's deposit insurance fund an estimated $6 million. InBank's failure will cost the insurance fund $66 million, while Vantus Bank's failure will cost the fund $168 million. Platinum Community Bank's failure will cost the fund about $114 million. First State Bank's collapse will cost the FDIC's insurance fund $47 million.

Hundreds more banks are expected to fail in the next few years largely because of bad loans for commercial real estate. The number of banks on the FDIC's confidential problem list jumped to 416 at the end of June from 305 in the first quarter. That's the highest number since June 1994, during the savings-and-loan crisis.

The insurance fund has been so depleted by the epidemic of collapsing financial institutions that some analysts have warned it could sink into the red by the end of this year. The fund fell 20 percent to $10.4 billion at the end of June, the FDIC reported Thursday. That's its lowest point since 1992, at the height of the S&L crisis.

The agency estimates bank failures will cost the fund around $70 billion through 2013.

U.S. banks overall lost $3.7 billion in the second quarter, compared with a profit of $7.6 billion in the January-March quarter, the FDIC said. Surging levels of soured loans at banks dragged down profits in the April-June period.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair has said there were no immediate plans to borrow money from the government to replenish the insurance fund by tapping the agency's $500 billion credit line with the Department of the Treasury. The FDIC may, however, impose an additional fee on U.S. banks this year to bolster the fund, atop the estimated $5.6 billion from a new emergency premium that took effect June 30.

[Associated Press; By STEPHEN BERNARD]

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