Regulators closed four banks in Tennessee, Minnesota and Florida, bringing the total for the year to seven. Tennessee, with two bank closings, had previously not had a single bank failure since 2002.  The combined assets of the two failed banks in Tennessee totaled $1.5 billion.  Tennessee Commerce Bank of Franklin, TN, became the first billion dollar bank failure of 2012.  Last [...]

Until today, the State of Tennessee, had seemed isolated from the banking crisis.  For almost a decade, there were no banking failures in Tennessee, with the last one occurring on November 8, 2002. Tennessee’s luck came to an abrupt halt today with the closing of two banks – Tennessee Commerce Bank of Franklin, TN and BankEast of Knoxville, TN.  The combined assets [...]

Minnesota, which had only two banking failures during 2011, got off to a fast start for 2012 with the closing of a small locally owned community bank. Patriot Bank Minnesota, Forest Lake, Minnesota, was closed by state regulators who appointed the FDIC as receiver.  The failed bank was sold by the FDIC to First Resource Bank, Savage, MN, which will assume all deposits of Patriot [...]

Tennessee Commerce Bank, Franklin, TN, with $1.2 billion dollars in assets, was closed today by state regulators.  The failure of Tennessee Commerce is the largest banking failure of the new year and comes in a state that is a stranger to bank failures.  Prior to today, the last banking failure in Tennessee was on November 8, 2002. The FDIC, acting as receiver, sold the failed [...]

First Guaranty Bank and Trust Company of Jacksonville, Florida, the oldest bank in Jacksonville, was closed today by state regulators.  The FDIC, named as receiver, sold the failed bank to CenterState Bank of Florida, N.A. First Guaranty Band and Trust was a family owned bank with a 62 year history.  Inexplicably, according to the Bank’s website “First Guaranty Bank’s [...]

David Stockman, former budget director in the Reagan administration, argues persuasively that the fundamental problems of the financial system are worse than in 2008. The “too big to fail” banks have become bigger, politicians have been bought and paid for, an entitled class of Wall Street financiers are being served by government policies and a massive amount of  [...]

A total of 92 banks failed during 2011, signaling a continuation of the crisis in the banking industry.  Although total banking failures during 2011 declined from the previous year, the number remains historically high.  The last time more than 50 banks failed in one year was 1992 or 20 years ago. The complete list of 2011 banking failures is listed below followed by some interesting [...]

The number of banks on the confidential FDIC Problem Bank List is at a 20 year high.  As of September 30, 2011, there were 844 institutions on the Problem Bank List, the largest number since 1992 when the total was 1,066. Since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008, a total of 417 banks have failed nationwide, yet the number of problem banks remains stubbornly high.  Considering [...]

The first bank failures of 2012 occurred today when regulators closed three banks in Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Florida and Georgia are continuing a trend from last year when they accounted for almost 40% of the nation’s 92 banking failures.  Georgia had 23 bank failures in 2011 followed by Florida with 13 bank failures.  Today’s three failed banks had total [...]

With any type of luck, American Eagle Savings Bank of Boothwyn, PA, could have gone unnoticed by regulators.  American Eagle was a speck of a bank with only $19.6 million in total assets, despite the fact that it was one of the oldest banks in the country, having been established in 1917. The smallest bank closed in 2011 was Rosemount National Bank of Minnesota that had only $37 [...]