Banks in Georgia, North Carolina, Kansas Closed by Regulators

By Margaret Chadbourn and Ari Levy

June 20 (Bloomberg) -- Banks in Georgia, North Carolina and Kansas with total assets of $1.5 billion were closed yesterday, bringing this year’s tally of failures in the U.S. to 40 amid the highest unemployment in a quarter century.

State regulators shut Southern Community bank of Fayetteville, Georgia and Cooperative Bank in Wilmington, North Carolina. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed First National Bank of Anthony, Kansas. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named as receiver for all three, according to statements from the FDIC.

Southern Community’s $307 million in deposits were bought by United Community Bank of Blairsville, Georgia, and most of Cooperative’s $774 million in deposits went to First Bank in Troy, North Carolina, the FDIC said. Bank of Kansas in South Hutchinson acquired First Bank’s $142.5 million in deposits. The acquiring banks are taking over a combined $1.47 billion in assets, mostly loans, from the failed institutions, and signed agreements with the FDIC to share more than 80 percent of the losses with the government.

“The loss-sharing arrangement is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector,” the FDIC said in each statement. “The agreement also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers.”

Regulators this year have closed the most banks since 1993, as the loss of jobs contributes to mounting home foreclosures and loan delinquencies. The U.S. economy contracted at a 5.7 percent annual pace in the first quarter. More than a quarter of all states have unemployment rates higher than 10 percent, the Labor Department said yesterday.

Normal Hours

Southern Community’s five offices will open today as branches of United Community, and Cooperative’s 24 branches will open on June 22 as part of First Bank. The six offices of First National will open under normal business hours as branches of Bank of Kansas, the FDIC said.

The regulator estimates the seizures will cost the deposit insurance fund $363 million. The reserve in the first quarter fell 25 percent from the previous year, to $13 billion -- the lowest since September 1993.

As many as 1,000 U.S. banks could fail in the next three to five years on losses related to commercial real estate loans, RBC Capital Markets analysts said in February. The FDIC estimates U.S. bank failures through 2013 may cost $70 billion.

The FDIC classified 305 banks as “problem” institutions in the first quarter, a 21 percent jump from the fourth quarter and the highest since 1993, the agency said May 27. The agency doesn’t identify problem lenders.

The FDIC insures deposits at 8,246 institutions with $13.5 trillion in assets
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