2009 bank-failure tally rises to 40
WASHINGTON - Banks in North Carolina, Georgia, and Kansas with combined assets of $1.5 billion were seized by regulators last week, costing the US insurance fund $363 million and pushing this year’s tally of failures to 40.
Southern Community Bank of Fayetteville, Ga., and 111-year-old Cooperative Bank in Wilmington, N.C., were closed Friday by state officials, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency shut First National Bank of Anthony, Kan.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver.
Southern Community’s $307 million in deposits were bought by United Community Bank of Blairsville, Ga., and most of Cooperative’s $774 million in deposits went to First Bank in Troy, N.C. 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.
“The loss-sharing arrangement is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector,’’ the FDIC said. “The agreement also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers.’’
Regulators this year have closed the most banks since 1993 as a loss of 6 million jobs since the recession began contributes to mounting home foreclosures and loan delinquencies. The US economy contracted at a 5.7 percent annual pace in the first quarter. More than a quarter of all states have unemployment rates higher than 10 percent.
The FDIC classified 305 banks as “problem’’ institutions in the first quarter, a 21 percent jump from the fourth quarter and the highest since 1993, the agency said May 27. The agency doesn’t identify problem lenders. 