Regulators close two Georgia banks, one each in Florida, Colorado, bringing to 84 the number of 2011 U.S. bank failures

Cindy Allen

WASHINGTON , October 24, 2011 (Associated Press) – Regulators on Friday closed two banks in Georgia and one each in Florida and Colorado, raising to 84 the number of U.S. banks that have failed this year.

The number of closures has fallen sharply this year as banks have worked their way through the bad debt accumulated in the recession. By this time last year, regulators had shuttered 139 banks.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized the four banks. The largest by far was Community Banks of Colorado, based in Greenwood, Colo., with $1.38 billion in assets and $1.33 billion in deposits. Also shuttered were Community Capital Bank, Jonesboro, Ga., with $181.2 million in assets and $166.2 million in deposits; Decatur First Bank, Decatur, Ga., with $191.5 million in assets and $179.2 million in deposits; and Old Harbor Bank, Clearwater, Fla., with $215.9 million in assets and $217.8 million in deposits.

Community Banks of Colorado was a state-chartered institution and under the supervision of the Federal Reserve. The Fed appointed the FDIC receiver of the bank after determining that it had been "critically undercapitalized" since July 29.

The Fed said in a statement that it also consulted with Colorado's banking commissioner.

Bank Midwest, based in Kansas City, Mo., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of Community Banks of Colorado. In addition, the FDIC and Bank Midwest agreed to share losses on $714.2 of Community Banks of Colorado's loans and other assets.

The bank's failure is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $224.9 million.

State Bank and Trust Co., based in Macon, Ga., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of Community Capital Bank. Atlanta-based Fidelity Bank agreed to acquire the assets and deposits of Decatur First Bank, while 1st United Bank, based in Boca Raton, Fla., is assuming the assets and deposits of Old Harbor Bank.

In addition, the FDIC and State Bank and Trust agreed to share losses on $141.3 million of Community Capital Bank's assets. The agency and Fidelity Bank are sharing losses on $111.5 million of Decatur First Bank's assets. The FDIC and 1st United Bank are sharing losses on $155.6 million of Old Harbor Bank's assets.

The failure of Community Capital Bank is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $62 million. The failure of Decatur First Bank is expected to cost $32.6 million; that of Old Harbor Bank, $39.3 million.

Georgia and Florida have been among the hardest-hit states for bank failures. Regulators closed 16 banks in Georgia and 29 in Florida last year. The failures of Community Capital Bank and Decatur First Bank brought to 22 the number of Georgia lenders shut down this year. Old Harbor Bank was the 12th bank shuttered in Florida.

California and Illinois also have seen large numbers of bank failures.

In all of 2010, regulators seized 157 banks, the most in any year since the savings and loan crisis two decades ago. Those failures cost around $23 billion. The FDIC has said 2010 likely was the high-water mark for bank failures from the Great Recession.

In 2009, there were 140 bank failures that cost the insurance fund about $36 billion, a higher price tag than in 2010 because the banks involved were bigger on average. Twenty-five banks failed in 2008, the year the financial crisis struck with force; only three were closed in 2007.

From 2008 through 2010, bank failures cost the fund $76.8 billion. The FDIC expects failures from 2011 through 2015 to cost $19 billion.

The deposit insurance fund fell into the red in 2009. With failures slowing, the FDIC's fund balance turned positive in the second quarter of this year; it stood at $3.9 billion as of June 30.

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