Premier American Acquires Failed Florida Bank

Federal regulators stepped in this weekend to shut down ""Coastal Bank"":http://www.coastalbank.net/ in Cocoa Beach, Florida, making it the 40th ""FDIC-insured institution to fail"":http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html so far this year.

[IMAGE] Miami's ""Premier American Bank, N.A."":http://www.premieramericanbank.com/, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bond Street Holdings, Inc., entered into an agreement with the FDIC to purchase essentially all of the assets, and assume all of the deposits and certain other liabilities, of Coastal Bank.

The failed Florida lender had approximately $129.4 million in assets and $123.9 million in total deposits. Premier American and the FDIC will share in future losses on $108.2 million of Coastal Bank's assets.

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With the two full-service branches included in the acquisition, Premier American now operates a total of 39 branches throughout Florida. Premier American now has approximately $3.2 billion in assets and $2.5 billion in deposits, and is considered ""well capitalized"" by regulatory standards.

According to Premier American, this transaction makes it the sixth largest independent bank in Florida.

Since its formation in April 2009, Bond Street has raised approximately $740 million and its wholly-owned subsidiary Premier American has acquired certain assets and assumed certain liabilities, including substantially all deposits, of seven failed banks in Florida from the FDIC.

Premier American operates in the state under three trade names: Premier American Bank, N.A.; Florida Community Bank; and Sunshine State Community Bank. Premier American anticipates it will convert all retail bank branches to the Florida Community Bank brand name in July 2011.

The FDIC estimates that the closing of Coastal Bank will cost the federal agency $13.4 million. It is the fifth bank to go under in Florida this year.