Regulators shut banks in NY, Florida, Louisiana

[March 13, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Regulators on Friday shut down banks in New York, Florida and Louisiana, raising to 30 the number of failures this year of federally insured banks.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of Park Avenue Bank in New York, Old Southern Bank in Orlando, Fla. and Statewide Bank in Covington, La.

Park Avenue Bank had $520.1 million in assets and $494.5 million in deposits as of Dec. 31.

The FDIC said the bank's deposits will be assumed by Valley National Bank, based in Wayne, N.J. Valley National agreed to pay a small premium to assume all of the deposits. It also agreed to purchase essentially all of Park Avenue Bank's assets.

Park Avenue Bank's four branches will reopen beginning Saturday as offices of Valley National Bank.

It was the second New York bank to be shuttered this week. On Thursday, the FDIC closed LibertyPointe Bank, which catered largely to the Orthodox Jewish community in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Valley National is also taking on LibertyPointe's assets and deposits.

Old Southern Bank had $315.6 million in assets and $319.7 million in deposits, as of Dec. 31. Centennial Bank in Conway, Ark. agreed to acquire the deposits for a premium and purchase virtually all of Old Southern's assets.

The seven branches of Old Southern will be reopened Monday as branches of Centennial Bank.

Statewide Bank had $243.2 million in assets and $208.8 million in deposits, as of Dec. 31. Home Bank in Lafayette, La. is assuming Statewide Bank's deposits, but will not pay a premium. Home Bank is also purchasing nearly all of Statewide Bank's assets.

Statewide Bank's six branches are reopening Saturday as branches of Home Bank.

The pace of bank seizures this year is likely to accelerate in coming months, FDIC officials have said.

As the economy has weakened, bank failures have mounted, sapping billions of dollars out of the deposit insurance fund. It fell into the red last year, hitting a $20.9 billion deficit as of Dec. 31.

Park Avenue Bank's failure is expected to cost the FDIC's insurance fund $50.7 million. Old Southern Bank's failure will cost the fund $94.6 million, while Statewide Bank's failure will cost the fund $38.1 million.

The number of banks on the FDIC's confidential "problem" list jumped to 702 in the fourth quarter from 552 three months earlier, even as the industry squeezed out a small profit. Banks earned $914 million, compared with a $37.8 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. Still, nearly one in every three banks reported a net loss for the latest quarter.

Last year, 140 bank failed. That was the highest annual tally since the height of the savings and loan crisis in 1992. Last year's bank closures cost the insurance fund more than $30 billion. There were 25 bank failures in 2008 and just three in 2007.

The FDIC expects the cost of resolving failed banks to grow to about $100 billion over the next four years.

The agency mandated last year that banks prepay about $45 billion in premiums, for 2010 through 2012, to replenish the insurance fund.

Depositors' money - insured up to $250,000 per account - is not at risk, with the FDIC backed by the government. Apart from the fund, the FDIC has about $66 billion in cash and securities available in reserve to cover losses at failed banks.

[Associated Press; By STEPHEN BERNARD]

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