Five Banks Seized in FDIC’s Busiest Night of '12

WASHINGTON — On the heaviest night of bank closures this year, regulators across four states shuttered a total of five institutions, bringing the year's failure total to 22 and costing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. more than $270 million.

The five seized banks were: the $482 million-asset InterBank FSB in Maple Grove, Minn.; the $486 million-asset Plantation Federal Bank in Pawleys Island, S.C.; the $164 million-asset HarVest Bank of Maryland in Gaithersburg; the $167 million-asset Bank of the Eastern Shore in Cambridge, Md.; and the $126 million-asset Palm Desert National Bank in Palm Desert, Calif.

In all but one of the failures, the FDIC found buyers who agreed to protect all depositors.

With failures slowing down this year, the five resolutions Friday so far represent the biggest total in one night for 2012. Failures last hit that mark on April 29, 2011.

Only insured deposits were covered in the resolution of Bank of the Eastern Shore, for which there was no acquirer. Instead, the FDIC established a temporary bank — called the Deposit Insurance National Bank of the Eastern Shore — where customers of the failed bank can access their insured deposits. The new bank will stay open until May 25, allowing customers to open accounts at other institutions. The "DINB" will not hold brokered deposits, certificates of deposit and individual retirement accounts.

Bank of the Eastern Shore had about $154 in deposits at the time of its closing; the FDIC said the amount of uninsured funds at the institution was not yet determined. The bank's resolution was estimated to cost the agency nearly $42 million.

Meanwhile, the deposits and assets of InterBank — also known as Inter Savings Bank — were sold to Great Southern Bank in Reeds, Mo. Great Southern will reopen the failed bank's four branches on Monday. The buyer will assume all of InterBank's $473 million in deposits and acquire essentially all of its assets. The transaction includes a loss-sharing agreement between the FDIC and Great Southern on $413 million of the failed bank's assets. The failure was estimated to cost $117 million.

Sonabank in McLean, Va., was the winning bidder for the operations of HarVest Bank. The acquirer agreed to assume all of the failed bank's $145 million in deposits and acquire essentially all of its assets. The failure was estimated to cost just over $17 million.

Plantation Federal Bank will reopen as part of First Federal Bank. The acquirer, located in Charleston, S.C., agreed to assume all of Plantation's $440 million in deposits and acquire essentially all of its assets. The FDIC will share losses with First Federal on $222 million of the failed bank's assets. The failure was estimated to cost $76 million.

The FDIC sold Palm Desert National's operations to Pacific Premier Bank in Costa Mesa, Calif. The buyer agreed to assume all of the failed bank's $123 million in deposits, and purchase essentially all of its assets. The failure was estimated to cost the FDIC about $20 million.

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