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Regulators Seize Seven Community Banks

Soured loans continue to bring down financial institutions in mass. Seven more community banks were shuttered by regulators over the weekend, bringing the[IMAGE]total number of ""FDIC-insured failures"":http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html to 64 for the year. The latest round of closures targeted banks in Puerto Rico, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington, and will cost the FDIC more than $7 billion.

Three banks in Puerto Rico were shut down, representing about a quarter of the banking market share on the island in terms of assets and almost 30 percent of all deposits. According to the _Wall Street Journal_, not since the savings and loan crisis in the 1990s has the FDIC been forced to deal with a banking problem of this scale in a single market.

The largest of the three failures, W Holding Co. Inc.'s ""Westernbank"":http://www.wbpr.com in Mayaguez was acquired by ""Popular Inc."":http://www.bancopopular.com,

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the region's largest bank. Westernbank operated 46 branch offices and had assets of $11.94 billion and deposits of $8.62 billion.

""R-G Premier Bank"":http://www.rgpremierbank.com in Hato Rey was absorbed by the ""Bank of Nova Scotia"":http://scotiabank.com/cda/index/0,,LIDen_SID19,00.html in San Juan. R-G had 29 branches, $5.92 billion in assets, and $4.25 billion in total deposits.

San Juan-based ""Eurobank"":http://www.eurobankpr.com was taken over by ""Oriental Bank and Trust"":http://www.orientalonline.com, also in San Juan. Eurobank ran its business out of 22 branches. It had $2.56 billion in assets and $1.97 billion in deposits.

In Port Huron, Michigan, ""CF Bancorp"":http://www.cfsbank.com was closed. ""First Michigan Bank"":http://www.firstmichiganbank.com in Troy stepped in to take over CF Bancorp's 22 branch locations and $1.43 billion in deposits, and purchase nearly all of its $1.65 billion in assets.

""BC National Banks"":http://www.bcnationalbanks.com in Butler, Missouri, also folded. It had four local branches, $67.2 million in assets, and $54.9 million in deposits. ""Community First Bank"":http://www.communityfirstbank.net, also in Butler, was the acquiring institution in an FDIC-assisted transaction.

""Champion Bank"":http://www.championbankstl.com/2722/mirror/ in Creve Coeur, Missouri, was acquired by ""BankLiberty"":www.banklibertykc.com in Liberty, Missouri. Champion Bank operated just a single branch, and had $187.3 million in assets and $153.8 million in deposits.

In Everett, Washington, ""Frontier Bank"":http://www.frontierbank.com was shuttered. ""Union Bank"":http://www.unionbank.com in San Francisco agreed to take over the failed bank's 51 branches, $3.50 billion in total assets, and $3.13 billion in deposits.

About Author: Carrie Bay

Carrie Bay is a freelance writer for DS News and its sister publication MReport. She served as online editor for DSNews.com from 2008 through 2011. Prior to joining DS News and the Five Star organization, she managed public relations, marketing, and media relations initiatives for several B2B companies in the financial services, technology, and telecommunications industries. She also wrote for retail and nonprofit organizations upon graduating from Texas A&M University with degrees in journalism and English.
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