FDIC closes small bank in Pennsylvania

[October 27, 2012]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Regulators said Friday they have closed a small bank in Pennsylvania, bringing to 47 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized NOVA Bank, based in Berwyn, Pa.

The bank had about $483 million in assets and $432.2 million in deposits as of June 30.

The FDIC said it was unable to find a financial institution to take over the failed bank's operations, so it will retain NOVA's assets for later disposition.

Regulators did line up National Penn Bank to accept NOVA's direct deposits from the federal government, including Social Security payments, through Jan. 25.

The failure of NOVA Bank is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $91.2 million.

The lender is the second FDIC-insured institution in Pennsylvania to fail this year.

U.S. bank closures are running at a much slower pace than in 2011. By this time last year, 84 banks had failed.

Bank closures peaked in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis. In 2007, just three banks went under. That number jumped to 25 in 2008, after the meltdown, and ballooned to 140 in 2009.

In 2010, regulators seized 157 banks, the most in any year since the savings and loan crisis two decades ago. The FDIC has said 2010 likely was the high-water mark for bank failures from the Great Recession. They declined to a total of 92 in 2011.

From 2008 through 2011, bank failures cost the deposit insurance fund an estimated $88 billion. The fund fell into the red in 2009. But with failures slowing, the fund's balance turned positive in the second quarter of last year. By June 30, it stood at $22.7 billion, up from $15.3 billion at the end of March.

The FDIC expects bank failures from 2012 through 2016 to cost $10 billion.

[Associated Press]

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