Banks of Wisconsin, Closed By Regulators, Becomes 14th Bank Failure of 2013

Wisconsin had its first bank failure in over two years on Friday when state regulators closed Banks of Wisconsin, Kenosha, Wisconsin.  The FDIC, appointed as receiver, sold the failed bank to North Shore Bank, FSB, Brookfield, Wisconsin, which will assume all deposits of Banks of Wisconsin.

Banks of Wisconsin, established in June 2000, had two branches which did business as Bank of Kenosha.  Both branches will reopen as branches of North Shore Bank.  All depositors of Bank of Kenosha will become depositors of North Shore Bank with uninterrupted FDIC deposit insurance.  Customers of Bank of Kenosha will have access to their money over the weekend through the use of checks, ATM and debit cards.

Banks of Wisconsin was a small bank.  As of March 31, 2013 the bank had total assets of $134.0 million and total deposits of $127.6 million.  North Shore Bank agreed to purchase $97.4 million of the failed bank’s assets with the FDIC retaining the balance of $36.6 million for later disposition.

The acquisition of Banks of Wisconsin is the second purchase of a failed bank by North Shore Bank.  On September 17, 2010, North Shore Bank took over the failed Maritime Savings Bank, West Allis, Wisconsin, acquiring $177.6 million in assets and $350.5 million in deposits.

The cost to the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund for the failure of Banks of Wisconsin is $26.3 million.  Banks of Wisconsin becomes the 14th banking failure of the year and the first in Wisconsin since March 2011 when Legacy Bank, Milwaukee, was closed.