Tag Archives: Bank Failure

During the third quarter, 49 mortgage-related companies went under or closed down part of their operations, according to industry data released Tuesday. Organizational shake-ups were felt at even the nation's largest lenders. One top-four bank put the brakes on its subprime lending business, while the country's No. 1 lender abandoned mortgage broker originations. As of the end of September, industry casualties for the year tallied 158. However, overall mortgage-related failures this year are on track to subside from 2009.

The federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) officially hit its expiration date last week. For the past two years, the controversial $700 billion bailout package has drawn the ire of critics from nearly every corner. In an op-ed piece, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sets out to dispel what he says are the five most popular myths surrounding TARP, including the cost to taxpayers and the idea that it was a carefully wrapped gift for Wall Street.

State and federal regulators closed the doors on two community banks over the weekend - Wakulla Bank in Crawfordville, Florida, and Shoreline Bank in Shoreline, Washington. The two lenders' closings bring the number of names on the FDIC's failed-bank list to 129 so far for the 2010 calendar year. The real estate and financial crises have been dire for the nation's banking system. Some analysts have estimated that the United States could lose as much as a third of its banks when all is said and done.

State and federal regulators stepped in to shut down the operations of two community-based lenders over the weekend -- Haven Trust Bank Florida in Ponte Vedra Beach and North County Bank in Arlington, Washington. So far this year, 127 names have landed on the FDIC's failed-bank list. The real estate and financial crises have taken their toll on the nation's banking system. Institutional closings in 2010 are well on pace to surpass the 140 bank seizures that characterized 2009.

Six community-based lenders found regulators at their doors Friday evening, preparing to shut down their operations - three in Georgia, and one each in Ohio, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. The failures are expected to cost the FDIC some $225 million. This latest round of closings pushes the FDIC's failed-bank tally for the year to 125. There were 140 bank closings in all of 2009. In 2008, there were 25. The FDIC recently reported that the names on its so-called ""Problem List"" of banks climbed to 829 at the end of the second quarter of this year.

The recent stretch of days with no bank failures has come to an end after a short three-week stint. Horizon Bank in Bradenton, Florida, was closed over the weekend by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. It pushes the FDIC's failed-bank tally for the year to 119. Florida has been a hot-bed for bank busts in 2010. So far 23 FDIC-insured institutions in the Sunshine State have gone under, more than in any other state.

Mariner Real Estate Management has announced the purchase of a portfolio of approximately 1,100 residential and commercial loans from 20 failed banks. The real estate investment and management firm conducted the $760 million transaction with the FDIC. Mariner paid about $52 million for a 40 percent managing member interest in the limited liability company created by the FDIC to hold all the loans and REO assets.

In a rare break from what has been the norm throughout the recession, this weekend saw no bank closings. Since January 2008, more than 280 banks and thrifts have collapsed, most as a direct result of problems in the real estate markets. The research firm Foresight Analytics estimates that 200, and possibly 300 to 400, banks are at risk of failure over the next 12 to 24 months, but the company says a number of community banks have begun to shed some of their problem commercial real estate loans.

The pace of bank closings has returned to the recessionary norm, following two consecutive weeks where we saw just a single bank failure. That temporary reprieve came to an abrupt halt on Friday, as regulators shut the doors on eight community-based lenders in one fell swoop -- four were in California, two in Florida, and one each in Illinois and Virginia. The year's failed-bank tally now stands at 118. The largest of this weekend's closings was Chicago's ShoreBank.

For the second weekend in a row, regulators shut down only one financial institution. It was Palos Bank and Trust Company in Palos Heights, Illinois that found regulators at its doors last Friday evening. It marked the 110th bank failure this year, and the 14th in Illinois, making the state home to the second most collapsed banks in 2010, second only behind Florida.