US regulators close four more banks to raise total to 143

The number of bank failures this year surpassed the 2009 tally on Friday when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp announced it closed four more banks.

Friday’s announcement brings the total failures to 143, moving past the 2009 total of 140.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said recently that while the number of failures was expected to exceed the 2009 tally, the total assets of this year’s failures will probably be lower.

In 2009 the total amount of assets held by failed banks was $169.7 billion and so far in 2010 the total is $89.3 billion, according to the FDIC.

On Friday, regulators said they closed:

* K Bank of Randallstown, Maryland, which had about $538.3 million in assets and $500.1 million in deposits. Buffalo, New York-based M&T Bank will assume the deposits of K Bank and about $410.8 million of its assets.

* Pierce Commercial Bank of Tacoma, Washington, which had about $221.1 million in assets and $193.5 million in deposits. Heritage Bank of Olympia, Washington agreed to assume the closed bank’s deposits and assets.

* Western Commercial Bank in Woodland Hills, California, which had about $98.6 million in assets and $101.1 million in deposits. First California Bank, Westlake Village, California, will assume the deposits and most of the assets.

* First Vietnamese American Bank, Westminster, California, which had about $48 million in assets and $47 million in deposits. Grandpoint Bank of Los Angeles will assume its deposits and assets.

The four failures were expected to cost the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund an estimated total of $254.5 million.

Washington Mutual, which had $307 billion in assets when it was seized in September 2008, remains the largest bank to fail during the financial crisis.

In a good sign for the banking industry, the FDIC said on October 19 that due to lower than expected losses it is now estimating that bank failures will cost the Deposit Insurance Fund $52 billion from 2010 through 2014, compared with a prior estimate of $60 billion.

The Deposit Insurance Fund, financed by banks that pay into the fund, guarantees individual accounts up to $250,000.

Because of that lowered cost estimate and because the Dodd-Frank reform legislation laid out new rules for the insurance fund, the FDIC voted on October 19 to forego a 3-basis-point increase in bank fees that had been scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2011.
Source: Reuters

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