Two bank failures bring year's U.S. tally to 126

[UpInArms]

Source: CBS Marketwatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Two Georgia bank failures brought the U.S. bank failure tally to 126, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Regulators closed the First Security National Bank of Norcross, Ga., and Atlanta's Buckhead Community Bank. State Bank and Trust Co. of Macon, Ga. will assume the deposits of both banks. As of Sept. 30, First Security had total assets of about $128 million and total deposits of about $123 million, and as of Nov. 6 Buckhead had total assets of about $874 million and total deposits of about $838 million. The failures also raise the number of bank failures in Georgia to 23 for the year.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/two-bank-failures-bring-years-us-tally-to-126-2009-12-04

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FDIC: Failed Bank List

Bank Name			City		State	CERT #	Closing Date		Updated Date

Benchmark Bank			Aurora		IL	10440	December 4, 2009	December 4, 2009
AmTrust Bank			Cleveland	OH	29776	December 4, 2009	December 4, 2009
The Tattnall Bank		Reidsville	GA	12080	December 4, 2009	December 4, 2009
First Security National Bank	Norcross	GA	26290	December 4, 2009	December 4, 2009
The Buckhead Community Bank	Atlanta		GA	34663	December 4, 2009	December 4, 2009

edited to remove the parenthetical addition to the title line that 3 additional banks were closed after the article was written per DU moderator request.

[ixion]

1. yet another Bank Failure Friday...

it's been going on for some time now...

[midnight]

2. I would say getting our finances in order is a national security issue that trumps 100 bad

men in Afghanistan.

[doc03]

3. What do you people do Google "todays bad news"? n/t

[UpInArms]

5. sorry, you don't like "bad" news

maybe we can all bury our heads in the sand and never ever notice that those banks are failing.

[OhioChick]

7. Would you prefer to live with your head buried up your ass? n/t

[girl gone mad]

9. lol... I guess reality has a gloomy bias.

Sorry, Karl.

[RubyDuby in GA]

4. I don't know why we just don't call it GA Bank Failure Friday

I don't think a week goes by that a GA bank doesn't fail somewhere in this state.

[girl gone mad]

10. Have you seen this article?

Bank failures in Georgia crushing small business and home owners
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/12/bank-failures-in-georgia-crushing-small-business-and-home-owners.html

This article originally appeared at Credit Writedowns. Note: Since this post was published, three more banks in Georgia have failed.

Recently, I have been writing a lot about regional banks and the capital problems they have been having. This is having a direct impact on lending capacity available to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) and households. As a result, a lot of workers are losing jobs in these smaller enterprises. And the unemployment statistics may not fully reflect this. I see this as a major reason economic growth has been weak.

A high profile regional bank failure came just this week via AmTrust Financial the holding company of AmTrust bank (the former Ohio Savings Bank), leading me to believe regional banks will continue to underperform larger banks, which have been helped by government largesse.

More evidence that the policy skew toward big banks is having a negative impact on small businesses and households comes via the Bloomberg story below. In Georgia I count 21 bank failures this year alone, 27 in total since the subprime crisis began in 2007. Now, much of the reason behind the failures is reckless lending and bankruptcy is the consequence of this risky behaviour.

Nevertheless, the vaporizing of local and regional banks is bound to have a disproportionate effect on SMEs and households. Listen to the accounts in the video below. it shows the cycle in action: reckless lending, overcapacity, bust, and failure. The businessmen interviewed say this has cut them off from viable sources of funding, creating more economic distress. Banker John Poelker says more failures are likely. And that means yet more economic distress. This is one reason that we need more done on the jobs front despite the welcome surprise drop in the unemployment rate earlier today.

[HughBeaumont]

6. Hits home. AmTrust is where I work.

So far, I go to work on Monday. This is the scenario we wanted to happen. Worst possible case would be if the FDIC just shut us down completely and left us in the lurch. NYCB has very few branches, so by all rights this is an extension and I (hopefully) have a decent chance of remaining. Let's hope for the best . . . this city and this state absolutely cannot handle more people on the dole.

[Dr.Phool]

8. Good luck.

I hope everything works out for you and your co-workers.

I left Cleveland for Florida 7 years ago. My step-son used to work for First Federal of Lakewood.

[OhioChick]

11. I wish you the best of luck. n/t

[HughBeaumont]

13. Teresa Dixon Murray probably doesn't.

The Plain Dealer's resident vulture just lurrrrves when a regional bank fails; it gives her something to write about. While she's cheerleading her ass off for the demise of this city, she kind of seems to forget that there's almost always a human cost to all of this in the form of more people on the unemployment line . . . something Cleveland cannot at ALL afford right now. Key is outsourcing it's mortgage division to NJ. That's 200 more people right there.

[UpInArms]

12. good luck to you - I worked at an S&L that was taken over

in the 80s - it was a trying time, to be sure.

It will take quite a while before the dust settles, unless you are a bank officer and have previously signed a "consent agreement" that stipulates your resignation upon take over.

:hi:

[Thickasabrick]

14. What is up with Georgia? The total talley is now 130 for the year

and Georgia represents 18% of the total banks and 12.7% of the total cost to the FDIC. Were there just too many banks there? Or were they all just inept?

[RubyDuby in GA]

15. The damn Republicans made it very easy for banks to give money to any and everyone who

was a "friend" of theirs. Their policies are a major source of blame for things being so bad in this state.