January 7, 2011 – Legacy Bank of Scottsdale, Arizona, was closed today by the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the FDIC as receiver.  The FDIC, acting as receiver, sold failed Legacy Bank to Enterprise Bank & Trust, St. Louis, Missouri.  Enterprise will assume all deposits and purchase essentially all assets of failed Legacy Bank.  The two [...]

During 2010, 12 different banks with $1.2 billion in outstanding TARP loans to the US Treasury purchased 18 different failed banks from the FDIC. According to a recent report from the Congressional Oversight Committee, TARP funds totaling $205 billion were distributed to a total of 707 banks.   The largest recipients of TARP money have repaid the funds in full, but less than 10% [...]

Gulf State Community Bank, Carrabelle, Florida was closed today by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, and the FDIC was named as receiver.  Gulf State had been operating under an FDIC consent order issued November 20, 2009 which required the bank, among other things, to increase capital to adequate levels.  Unable to comply with the stipulations of the consent order, regulators [...]

November 5, 2010 – Pierce Commercial Bank of Tacoma, Washington, was closed today by the Washington Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the FDIC as receiver.  Heritage Bank, Olympia, Washington, agreed to purchase the failed bank, assuming all deposits and purchasing all assets of failed Pierce Bank. The one branch of Pierce Bank will reopen on Monday as [...]

November 5, 2010 – K Bank, Randallstown, Maryland, was closed today by the Maryland Office of Financial Regulation, which appointed the FDIC as receiver.   K Bank, the fourth banking failure in Maryland this year, becomes the 140th banking failure of the year.   Total banking failures for 2010 now match the 140 banking failures for all of 2009. M&T Bank, Buffalo, New [...]

November 2, 2010 -  Speculation had been building for the past month over whether troubled Wilmington Trust would sell itself to another bank or be able to raise additional private equity and remain independent. Wilmington Trust received $330 million from the US Treasury in 2008 under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and raised another $274 million earlier this year in [...]

October 22, 2010 – There has been much discussion in the press lately about the increased competition among buyers for failed banks.  The theory is that buyers see a looming economic recovery that will result in huge gains by purchasing failed banks at bargain prices.  This week’s sale of failed banks by the FDIC, however, may indicate that the competition to buy [...]

October 22, 2010 – First Bank of Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida, which has been under a consent order since November 2009, was closed today by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation.  First Bank had been attempting to raise $5 million in a private stock placement to fulfill regulators demands to increase capital, but was unable to do so. The FDIC, appointed as [...]

July 15, 2010 – The Congressional Oversight Panel’s report on TARP loans to small banks has determined that many small banks  may find it difficult or impossible to repay funds borrowed from the U.S. Treasury.   The Treasury program to bailout banks, formally known as the Capital Purchase Program (CPP), was established during the height of the financial crisis to [...]