Rhetorical question. Life happens.

Friday banking report, five banks shutdown bringing the 2009 total to 69. Banks in FL, NJ, OH, and OK failed. In addition, Mutual Bank in Harvey, IL, closed.

The Feds close three more banks, two in Florida and one in Oregon.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the deposit insurance fund from the failure of the three banks will be around $185 million.

What the heck, $10 million here, $100 million there. It's that socialistic capitalist society we love to hate.

Georgia leads with the most bank failures in 2009 at 16, Illinois is next with 12, then California with 8. Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington have 3 or less bank failures in 2009.

Has anybody done any research on how the rate of failures in the states compare to the amount of sub-prime lending that was done that supposedly caused this mess?

It would seem that Georgia would lead in the rate of lake front developments and McMansion developments rather than lending to urban areas.

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present.
President Abraham Lincoln 1862

Friday banking report, the total is now up to 77 failed banks in 2009. Five banks were closed by the FDIC Friday.

Colonial Bank, Montgomery, AL, is the biggest bank to fail this year ($25 billion in assets, 346 locations). BB&T will be taking over the deposits of Colonial Bank.

Two banks in Arizona, one in Nevada, and one in Pittsburgh, PA complete the list of bank failures this week.

Depositors in the Nevada bank may, and it's just a may, have a problem if a depositor has money in the bank that exceeds the FDIC $250,000 insurance limit. There were no other financial institutions willing to take over this bank's deposits, thus depositors must work directly with the FDIC's new 30-day temp bank to get their money.

The FDIC said in a press release that those with deposits above $250,000 in the Nevada bank will have to inquire about their deposits. Approximately $4.2 million in insured deposits potentially exceeded the insurance limits when the bank was shuttered on Friday.

Four banks were seized by the FDIC Friday, August 21, 2009. Guaranty Bank, Austin, TX, CapitolSouth Bank, Birmingham, AL, First Coweta, Newnan, GA, and ebank, Atlanta, GA.

FDIC bank closings update:

August 28, 2009
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Three banks, one each in CA, MN, and MD.

September 4, 2009
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Five banks, two in IL, and one each in AZ, IA, and MO

September 11, 2009
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Three banks, one each in IL, MN, and WA.

September 18, 2009
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Two banks, one each in IN and KY.

The total is now 94 banks that have failed in 2009.

Georgia continues to lead with the most bank failures in 2009 at 18, Illinois is gaining with 16, and California now has 9.

Tennessee still has no in-state banks that have failed.

The AP reports: "...The [FDIC] fund fell 20 percent to $10.4 billion at the end of June, the FDIC reported earlier this month.

Chairman Sheila Bair said Friday the FDIC would consider tapping a line of credit with the Treasury Department. The FDIC's fund has slipped to 0.22 percent of insured deposits, below a congressionally mandated minimum of 1.15 percent."

As reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer, it could be worse. During the S&L crisis of the '80s and '90s, 531 banks failed in 1989.

"When will we learn from our past mistakes?"

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Last week, September 25th, one more Georgia bank closes. The number of bank closures in Georgia is now 19.

This week, October 2, 2009, three more banks are shut down, banks in Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota.

Everyone should see Michael Moore's new movie. It is playing now at Downtown West. I went yesterday and only about 10 people were in the theater. He lays it all out there. Exactly what I thought: we have been robbed.

On October 16th, one California bank closed, San Joaquin Bank in Bakersfield.

Two weeks later, October 23rd, 7 more banks have failed.

American United Bank, Lawrenceville, GA
First DuPage Bank, Westmont, IL
Riverview Community Bank, Otsego, MN
Bank of Elmwood, Racine, WI
and three banks in Florida,
Flagship National Bank, Bradenton, FL
Hillcrest Bank FLorida, Naples, FL
Partners Bank, Naples, FL

Georgia continues to lead with the most bank failures in 2009 at 19, Illinois is keeping pace with 17, and Florida with 9 failed banks is creeping up on California's count of 10 failed banks.

This is getting scary.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Nine more banks failed Friday. However, all nine banks were owned by a single bank holding company in Oak Park, IL. The number of failed banks for 2009 does increase to 115, but these nine failed banks were pretty much covered by a single umbrella of bad management.

California National Bank, Los Angeles, CA
Bank USA, NA, Phoenix, AZ
San Diego National Bank, San Diego, CA
Pacific National Bank, San Francisco, CA
Park National Bank, Chicago, IL
Community Bank of Lemont, IL
North Houston Bank, Houston, TX
Madisonville State Bank, Madisonville, TX
Citizens National Bank, Teague, TX

Three failed California banks, three Texas banks, two banks in Illinois and one in Arizona.

Illinois is now tied with Georgia in having the most failed banks (19 each) in 2009. California continues to jump up, now with a count of 12 failed banks.

Banks in Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, and California were shutdown by the FDIC on Friday.

The FDIC insurance fund's balance turned negative at the end of the third quarter. The FDIC has proposed having banks prepay three years of industry fees to give the agency enough liquidity to cover the costs of failures.

Yikes!

Georgia once again has the greatest number of failed banks at 21. California now has 14 failed banks. I know, the numbers from previous posts don't add up. C'est la vie.

Tennessee continues to have no failed banks. Yeah!

Six banks failed Friday, bring the total for 2009 to 130. Included in the list are AmTrust Bank, a large bank in Cleveland, OH, Benchmark Bank in Aurora, IL, Greater Atlantic Bank in Reston, VA, and three more Georgia banks, Buckhead Community Bank in Atlanta, First Security National Bank in Norcross, and The Tattnall Bank in Reidsville.

The good news is:

The bank failure count for 2009 is still far from 1989's record high of 534 bank closures which took place during the savings and loan crisis, when the insurance fund also carried a negative balance.

Three banks failed Friday, November 13, and one bank failed Friday, November 20.

Georgia has now had 24 banks to fail. Illinois comes in second
with 20 failed banks, California is third with 15, and Florida is fourth with 12 failed banks in 2009.

The better news is:
Tennesse has still had no banks to fail in 2009.

Seven more banks failed Friday, two California banks (First Federal Bank of California, Santa Monica, and Imperial Capital Bank, La Jolla), and one each in Alabama (New South Federal Savings Bank, Irondale), Florida (Peoples First Community Bank, Panama City), Georgia (RockBridge Commercial Bank, Atlanta), Michigan (Citizens State Bank, New Baltimore) and Illinois (Independent Bankers' Bank, Springfield).

Ow! How long will it take to get your money?

The FDIC was unable to find a buyer for RockBridge Commercial Bank, so checks covering insured accounts will be mailed to retail depositors, the agency said.

RockBridge Commercial is the 25th Georgia-based bank to fail this year, more than in any other state. Independent Bankers' Bank was the 21st bank in Illinois to fail and Peoples First Community Bank was the 14th bank in Florida.

Three banks failed last Friday, December 11th, Solutions Bank, Overland Park, KS, Valley Capital Bank, Mesa, AZ, and Republic Federal Bank, Miami, FL.