The goal of the Volcker Rule, which became law under the Dodd-Frank Act was to restrict speculative trading activity in risky derivatives by the Too Big To Fail Banks.  The ban on proprietary bank trading was proposed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker who believed that one of the primary causes of the 2008 financial meltdown was a result of speculative trading activity [...]

Security Bank, National Association, North Lauderdale, FL was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.  The FDIC, appointed as receiver, sold the failed bank to Banesco USA of Coral Gables, Florida.  Under the purchase and assumption agreement between Banesco and the FDIC, all deposits of failed Security Bank will be assumed by Banesco. Security Bank, established [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas joined the growing chorus of critics who maintain that the Dodd-Frank Act will not prevent future taxpayer funded bank bailouts.  The Dallas Fed said taxpayers are still at risk for the cost of large banks failures and that any future bailouts should result in severe consequences for both bank management and bank creditors.  According to Bloomberg, The [...]

Regulators got back to work during the last week of April, closing five banks in four different states.  A total of 22 banks have failed this year compared to a total of 92 bank failures during 2011.  If the rate of bank failures for the first four months of the year is annualized, total bank closings during 2012 should approach 70. The FDIC expects fewer bank failures this year [...]

Palm Desert National Bank, Palm Desert, California, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.  The FDIC, appointed as receiver, sold the failed bank to Pacific Premier Bank, Costa Mesa, CA., which will assume all deposits of Palm Desert National. Established in 1981, Palm Desert was a relatively small bank with only one branch and approximately $125 million [...]

Plantation Federal Bank, Pawleys Island, South Carolina, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.  The FDIC, acting as receiver, sold the failed bank to First Federal Bank of Charleston, South Carolina. Plantation Federal Bank, locally owned and operated, had been in business for over seventeen years.  The Bank prided itself on being a “community [...]

Inter Savings Bank, Maple Grove, Minnesota, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency which appointed the FDIC as receiver.   The FDIC sold the failed bank to Great Southern Bank, Reeds Spring, Missouri, which will assume all deposits of failed Inter Savings Bank. Inter Savings Bank, (fsb D/B/A Interbank) which had been in business since 1965, was a relatively [...]

The State of Maryland, which has not had a banking failure since November 2010, saw two banks collapse today as regulators closed the HarVest Bank of Maryland and the Bank of the Eastern Shore.  Since the start of the banking crisis in 2008, Maryland has had a total of only 8 banking failures compared to a nationwide total of 435 bank failures. After state regulators closed the [...]

Maryland state regulators closed the Bank of the Eastern Shore, Cambridge, MD and the FDIC was appointed as receiver.  As has happened on previous occasions, the FDIC was unable to find a buyer for the failed bank, leaving uninsured depositors at risk of loss on their savings. To protect insured depositors and wind down the operations of failed Bank of the Eastern Shore, the FDIC [...]

The FDIC announced in a press release today that a total of 72 enforcement actions were taken against banks and individuals for March 2012.  During the previous month, the FDIC had issued a total of 53 enforcement actions. Included in the FDIC enforcement actions were 18 civil money penalties, 1 prompt corrective action notice, 13 consent orders, 3 orders terminating deposit insurance, [...]