Country Bank, Aledo, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation – Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Blackhawk Bank Trust, Milan, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Country Bank.

The two branches of Country Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of Blackhawk Bank Trust. Depositors of Country Bank will automatically become depositors of Blackhawk Bank Trust. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage up to applicable limits. Customers of Country Bank should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Blackhawk Bank Trust that it has completed systems changes to allow other Blackhawk Bank Trust branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Country Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of June 30, 2011, Country Bank had approximately $190.6 million in total assets and $167.5 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, Blackhawk Bank Trust agreed to purchase approximately $113.3 million of the failed bank’s assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition.

Customers with questions about today’s transaction should call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-591-2916. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CDT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CDT; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CDT. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC’s Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/countrybank.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $66.3 million. Compared to other alternatives, Blackhawk Bank Trust’s acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC’s DIF. Country Bank is the 80th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the eighth in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was First Choice Bank, Geneva, on August 19, 2011.

# # #

Congress created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1933 to restore public confidence in the nation’s banking system. The FDIC insures deposits at the nation’s 7,513 banks and savings associations, and it promotes the safety and soundness of these institutions by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to which they are exposed. The FDIC receives no federal tax dollars — insured financial institutions fund its operations.

FDIC press releases and other information are available on the Internet at www.fdic.gov, by subscription electronically (go to www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html) and may also be obtained through the FDIC’s Public Information Center (877-275-3342 or 703-562-2200). PR-167-2011

Article source: http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2011/pr11167.html

Oil and Wine... they do mix!

Two of my favorite topics in the same report – wine and economics.

Two economists have published a working paper for the IMF that aims to explain the movement of crude oil and fine wine prices. “A Barrel of Oil or a Bottle of Wine: How Do Global Growth Dynamics Affect Commodity Prices?” by Serhan Cevik and Tahsin Saadi Sedik.

The authors suggest that “Aggregate demand growth, especially in emerging markets, is the most decisive factor in determining crude oil and fine wine prices.” In layman’s terms, as people get richer, they want more stuff – pushing prices for the stuff we all want, wine and crude oil, to go up, up and up!

Click here to read the full report.

This list has been a long time in coming… but no matter how you count them… 2010 was the year of the bank failure. Here’s a list of the failed banks sorted by state (including the Common Wealth of Puerto Rico – which had the largest bank failures of all U.S. territories during the year). Total estimated loses to the FDIC’s insurance fund is estimated to be nearly $24 billion in 2010.

The bank failure crisis continues. During the month of May, the U.S. lost 14 more banking institutions at an estimate cost to the FDIC $808 million. The nearly 4 times as many banks failed during May 2010 when compared to the May 2009 May failure numbers. The following is a listing of bank failures for the month of May sorted by largest estimated loss to the smallest. 

The year-to-date bank failure losses are staggering. So far for the year, estimated losses to the FDIC are just over $ billion. Florida is winning the race in terms of total number of failed banks, but Washington state takes the top failure by a state prize with more than $2.7 billion in estimated losses. The common wealth of Puerto Rico has the distinction of being the top loser with more then $5 billion in losses. 

Year-to-date loses 

Twenty-three more US banks found their way to failure during the month of April and the FDIC estimates its losses to be nearly $10 billion for the month.   With  2010 in the record books, the total estimated loss to the FDIC and its member banks is estimated at nearly $18 billion. The April results represent nearly a 40% increase over the same month a year ago. The bank failure storm shows few signs of coming to an end. 

The following is a list of the banks that failed during the month.

This next chart provides a year-to-date listing of the failed banks by state so far for the year. 

Nineteen more U.S. banks failed during the month of March bringing the year-to-date total to 41. The estimated losses for the month were estimated to be more than $3.1 billion. The FDIC is estimating the losses for 2010 at more than $7.8 million. In 2009, only nine banks failed during March – making the 211% increase ever more alarming.

Failed banks — March, 2010

The following is a list of banks that failed during the month of March in no particular order.

Failed banks by state

Through the end of March, Georgia leads the way with seven failed banks followed by Florida with six and Washington state and Minnesota tied for third with four each.

The Failed Bank Leader Board by State for 2010

Many recent reports about the US economy seem to suggest things are getting better. However, through the end of February, the US saw a 28% increase in bank failures when compared to the same period a year ago. During February 2009, 10 US banks failed while during February 2010, only seven banks failed.

According to the FDIC.com website, the expected losses for the failed banks total more than $1.1 billion.

Number of failed banks by state through February 28, 2010.

• WA 4
• FL 3
• MN 3
• CA 2
• GA 2
• IL 2
• MO 1
• NM 1
• NV 1
• OR 1
• TX 1
• UT 1
• 2010 Total 22

Source: FDIC.com

Failed banks in February 2010 – sorted by estimated losses.

• $882 La Jolla Bank, FSB La Jolla CA
• $141 George Washington Savings Bank Orland Park IL
• $95 Rainier Pacific Bank Tacoma WA
• $38 Marco Community Bank Marco Island FL
• $8 Carson River Community Bank Carson City NV
• $4 The La Coste National Bank La Coste TX
• $3 1st American State Bank of Minnesota Hancock MN

Source: FDIC.com

The following is a list of failed banks for January.

Source: FDIC.gov website – Accessed January 30, 2010.

Eighteen states made it through the year without a single bank failure. These states include:

Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and West Virginia.

With the help of Google docs – here’s a visualization of bank failures by state since 2000

Data FDIC.com – Retrieved January, 2010

October 30, 2009 Bank Failues

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

– Source: FDIC.com

All failed banks have been taken over by U.S. Bank.

More banks fail