What a difference a couple of years makes.
In April 2009, the $2 billion-asset New Frontier Bank in Greeley, Colo., failed. Regulators, unable to secure a buyer, created a deposit insurance bank to handle the failure, using a tool that had not been employed in 27 years at the time.
The move excited Darrell McAllister, the chief executive of Bank of Choice, which passed up on an opportunity to take over its struggling neighbor. McAllister crowed to American Banker that his bank was packed with customers looking to open new accounts in the days after the failure.
"Every chair in our office has been pulled into our lobby, and we've imported additional staff from our Fort Collins and Denver branches to help out," McAllister said in an interview. "I imagine this will continue for a couple of weeks."
In banking, all good things must come to an end, which turned out to be the case for Bank of Choice. Last Friday, the bank was also shut down by regulators. Only this time, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was able to find a buyer.
Now Bank of Choice's operations, and presumably some former customers from New Frontier, belong to Bank Midwest of Kansas City, Mo.
