Federal regulators close small Florida bank, bringing to 23 the number of 2012 U.S. bank failures

Cindy Allen

WASHINGTON , May 7, 2012 (Associated Press) – Federal regulators have closed down a small bank in Florida, bringing to 23 the number of U.S. banks that have failed so far this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that it shuttered Security Bank NA in North Lauderdale.

The bank had about $101 million in assets and $99.1 million in deposits as of March 31.

Banesco USA, based in Coral Gables, Fla., agreed to take over the assets and deposits of the failed bank, which had three branches.

The FDIC estimates that Security Bank's failure will cost the insurance fund $10.8 million.

Security Bank is the third FDIC-insured institution to fail this year in Florida.

The pace of bank closures has slowed sharply after ballooning following the financial crisis in 2008. By this time last year, 39 banks had failed.

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

From 2008 through 2010, bank failures cost the fund an estimated $79 billion. Last year, 92 banks failed, costing the fund about $7.9 billion. The FDIC expects failures from 2011 through 2015 to cost $19 billion.

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