Sheila Bair

The 20-year record high bankruptcy rate for US banks and businesses is giving regional banks on sound footing the opportunity to expand swiftly and on the cheap. "It's a significant opportunity because they are able to acquire assets that have been backed-stopped by the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), that means the losses are covered by the FDIC," Standard & Poor's analyst Erik Oja told AFP. Quite often, he added, it's a "very, very good deal for the surviving bank" that gets assets at a discount. More than 120 banks went belly-up this year in the United States, the highest bankruptcy rate since the ... Read Full Story

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation have closed Fort Myers-based Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida. It's the 124th U.S. bank failure of 2009 and the 12th in the state of Florida this year. FDIC said it entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Central Bank, Stillwater, Minnesota, to assume all of the deposits of Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida. Commerce Bank had only one branch, which has become part of Central Bank. As bank failures go, this was relatively small. As of August 28, 2009, Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida had total assets of $79.7 million and ... Read Full Story

By Robert Prechter The following article is an excerpt from Robert Prechter's Elliott Wave Theorist . For more information from Robert Prechter on bank safety, download his free report, Discover the Top 100 Safest U.S. Banks. Perhaps the single greatest reason for the unbridled expansion of credit over the past 50 years is the existence of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, another government-sponsored enterprise created by Congress. The coming rush of bank failures is an outcome made inevitable the very day that Congress created the FDIC. The reason is that the creation of the FDIC allowed savers to believe that their deposits at banks ... Read Full Story

U.S. banks will prepay about $45 billion in premiums to replenish a federal deposit insurance fund now in the red, under a plan adopted by federal regulators. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board voted Thursday to mandate the early payments of premiums for 2010 through 2012. Amid the struggling economy and rising loan defaults, 120 banks have failed so far this year costing the insurance fund more than $28 billion. To address concerns of small banks in weak financial condition, the FDIC also set up an exemption process for those that prove the prepaid fees would be a hardship. The FDIC expects the cost ... Read Full Story

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has shut down another three U.S. banks, bringing the toll for the year to 123. The latest casualties are in California and Florida, two states hard hit by the real estate crises. Federal and state officials closed Pacific Coast National Bank, San Clemente, California, and brokered a deal with Sunwest Bank, Tustin, California, to assume all of the deposits. As of August 31, 2009, Pacific Coast National Bank had total assets of $134.4 million and total deposits of approximately $130.9 million. Sunwest Bank did not pay a premium to assume all of the deposits of Pacific Coast National Bank. ... Read Full Story