Seven Banks Fail, Bringing Failures for Year to 139

Seven banks failed Friday, bringing the total number of failures this year to within one of the number of failures in all of 2009.

So far 139 banks have failed in 2010. Friday's failures are expected to cost the deposit insurance fund a collective $478 million.

The largest bank to fail Friday was the $1.65 billion-asset Hillcrest Bank in Overland Park, Kan. NBH Holdings Corp., a bank holding company backed by $1 billion raised in 2009, agreed to buy essentially all of Hillcrest's assets and assumed $1.54 billion of its deposits, without paying a premium. It also entered into a loss-sharing agreement on $1.15 billion of the assets. Hillcrest's failure is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $329.7 million.

NBH Holdings was granted a charter for Hillcrest Bank N.A., yet in a press release issued late Friday said it would seek to merge that bank into Bank Midwest in Kansas City, Mo., next year.

NBH announced in July it would buy the commercial and retail banking businesses of the $4.1 billion-asset Bank Midwest from Dickinson Financial Corp. The deal is expected to close this fall.

NBH said the two banks would complement each other and would give NBH a significant presence in the nation's midsection.

""This acquisition is exactly the type of transaction we had in mind when we announced the Bank Midwest acquisition," said Tim Laney, president and chief executive of the Boston-based NBH Holdings, in a press release.

Also Friday, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation closed the $110 million-asset Progress Bank of Florida in Tampa and the $81 million-asset First Bank of Jacksonville.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. transferred Progress Bank's $101.3 million in deposits to Bay Cities Bank in Tampa at par. The $522 million-asset Bay Cities also bought essentially all of Progress' assets and entered into a loss-sharing agreement on $82.6 million of its assets. Progress' failure is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $25 million.

The FDIC transferred First Bank's $77.3 million in deposits to Ameris Bank in Moultrie, Ga. The $2.4 billion-asset Ameris agreed to purchase all of its assets and entered into a loss-sharing agreement with the FDIC on $60 million of the assets. The failure is expected to cost $16.2 million. With the two failures, 27 banks have failed in Florida this year, the most of any state.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance shuttered The Gordon Bank in Gordon, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed The First National Bank of Barnesville, also in Georgia.

The $335 million-asset Morris Bank in Dublin, Ga., assumed all of The Gordon Bank's $26.7 million of deposits, paying a 0.05% premium. It also agreed to buy $11.5 million of The Gordon Bank's $29.4 million in assets. The assets Morris will take consist of cash and cash equivalents. The FDIC said it will retain the remaining assets for later disposition. The Gordon Bank's failure is expected to cost $9 million.

The $941 million-asset United Bank in Zebulon, Ga., assumed The First National Bank's $127.1 million of deposits without paying a premium. It also agreed to buy essentially all of its $131.4 million in assets. United Bank and the FDIC entered into a loss-sharing agreement on $107.3 million of the assets. Its failure is expected to cost $33.9 million.

The OCC also closed the $148.7 million-asset First Suburban National Bank in Maywood, Ill. A group of local investors applied to take a 75% ownership stake in the bank, according to a Federal Reserve release in early September.

The $414 million-asset Seaway Bank and Trust Co. in Chicago assumed First Suburban's $140 million in deposits without paying a premium and agreed to buy essentially all of its assets. It also entered into a loss-sharing agreement with the FDIC on $116.6 million of the assets. First Suburban's failure is expected to cost the FDIC $31.4 million.

The $272.2 million-asset First Arizona Savings in Scottsdale was the final failure of the night. The FDIC was unable to find an institution to take over the thrift. The FDIC said it would mail checks to depositors on Monday, Oct. 25. The thrift had $198.8 million of deposits, including an estimated $1.8 million of uninsured deposits.

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