August 29, 2009
Three more banks - in California, Minnesota and Maryland - closed
their doors Friday, raising the total of failed banks this year to
84.
Affinity Bank, Ventura, California; Mainstreet Bank, Forest Lake, Minnesota; and Bradford Bank, Baltimore, Maryland, were taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which in turn arranged for other institutions to acquire their assets.
Pacific Western Bank, San Diego, California, has assumed all of the deposits of Affinity Bank. As of July 10, 2009, Affinity Bank had total assets of $1 billion and total deposits of approximately $922 million. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Pacific Western Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.
Central Bank, Stillwater, Minnesota, has assumed all of the deposits of Mainstreet Bank. As of June 30, 2009, Mainstreet Bank had total assets of $459 million and total deposits of approximately $434 million.
Meanwhile, one banking insider says the U.S. may lose another 1,000 banks before the situation turns around. John Kansas, who became CEO of BankUnited in May when his private equity firm took over the failed institution, says the failures could take place over the next 24 months.
"Government money has propped up the very large institutions as a result of the stimulus package," he said in an interview with the business cable network CNBC. "There's really very little lifeline available for the small institutions that are suffering."
As a result, he predicted, more smaller, privately owned banks will fail unless the government extends the same kind of help it has offered those institutions is considers "too big to fail."
