WASHINGTON — The government closed state-chartered banks in New York, Florida and Louisiana late Friday to bring the year's failure tally to 30.
The three failures totaled $1.1 billion in assets and cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. an estimated $180 million. The agency was able to find buyers for each institution and protect all depositors.
The Park Avenue Bank, a $520 million-asset institution in New York City, was sold to Valley National Bank in Wayne, N.J., which acquired its second failed bank in as many days. Valley National paid the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. a premium of 0.15% to assume all of Park Avenue's $494.5 million of deposits and essentially all of its assets. The FDIC and Valley National entered into a loss-sharing agreement on $379.8 million of the bank's assets.
The Friday failure came only a day after Valley National bought the remains of failed $210 million-asset LibertyPointe Bank of New York. The two failed institutions were apparently shopped by the FDIC as a package deal, but LibertyPointe was closed a day early to avoid conflicting with the Jewish Sabbath.
State regulators said they closed Park Avenue because it was undercapitalized and had failed to live up to the terms of a Feb. 11, 2009 cease and desist order.
"We determined that the management team's inability to adequately address the problems outlined in the consent order led to the bank being critically undercapitalized. This issue, coupled with the high volume of non-performing loans held by Park Avenue, meant the bank could no longer operate in a safe and sound manner," said Richard Neiman, the New York State Banking Superintendent, in a press release.
The FDIC estimated the failure will cost the Deposit Insurance Fund $50.7 million.
Florida regulators shuttered $316 million-asset Old Southern Bank in Orlando. Centennial Bank in Conway, Ark., agreed to pay a 1% premium to assume all of Old Southern's $320 million in deposits, and will acquire roughly all of its assets. The acquirer and the FDIC agreed to share losses on $283 million of assets. The resolution was estimated to cost $95 million.
Meanwhile, the failure of $243 million-asset Statewide Bank in Covington, La., was estimated to cost $38 million. Home Bank in Lafayette agreed to assume all $209 million in deposits — without paying a premium — and acquire essentially all of the assets. The buyer and the FDIC will share losses on $163 million in assets.
