Regulators Seize Control of Three More Community Banks

Banks in Florida, Georgia, and New Mexico were shut down over the weekend, bringing the number of ""failed FDIC-insured institutions"":http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html to 86 for the year. That's nearly twice the number of closings at this time last year.

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The FDIC says it expects bank failures to peak in the latter half of 2010. The agency has earmarked $40 billion to cover institutional closings between March 2010 and March 2011. Total losses to the FDIC's insurance fund are projected to tally $100 billion from 2009 through 2013 as community banks continue to fold under the weight of bad real estate loans made during the boom.

Englewood's ""Peninsula Bank"":http://www.peninsulabank.com is the latest casualty in Florida. It operated 13 branch offices, with $580.1 million in deposits and $644.3 million in assets. ""Premier American Bank"":http://www.premieramericanbank.com, which was formed by a group of investors in Florida earlier this year for the sole purchase of taking over failed banks, stepped in to acquire Peninsula Bank's deposits and assets.

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The FDIC agreed to share in future losses on $437.6 million of the loans Premier American picked up. Peninsula Bank's failure is expected to cost the FDIC $194.8 million. It is the fourteenth Florida-based institution to go under this year.

""First National Bank"":http://www.fn-bank.net/index.htm in Savannah, Georgia was also shut down this weekend. With four local branches, First National Bank had $231.9 million in deposits and $252.5 million in assets. The FDIC brokered a deal with the ""Savannah Bank, N.A."":http://www.savannahbank.com, also in Georgia, to take over the failed institution's deposits and purchase ""some of its assets,"" according to the federal agency.

The FDIC will retain most of the assets from First National Bank for later disposition. The FDIC estimates that the closure will cost it $68.9 million. It's the ninth bank in Georgia to be shut down this year.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, it was ""High Desert State Bank"":http://www.highdesertsb.com that found regulators at its doors Friday evening. ""First American Bank"":http://www.1ststreadyonline.com in Artesia, New Mexico agreed to take over the failed bank's two local branches, its $81 million in deposits and $80.3 million in assets.

The FDIC and First American Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $67.6 million of High Desert State Bank's assets. The FDIC expects to be out $20.9 million for the New Mexico bank's closing. It's only the second in the state to be shuttered in 2010.