Misery Index

Just a little history first.  Bank failures since October 1, 2000.

And just a little bit more information.  It was announced in a August 28, 2008 The Dallas Morning News article that the FDIC expanded its Dallas, TX office in anticipation of more U.S. banks failing.

Fearful of more bank failures, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is beefing up its staff here in Dallas adding five floors of space to its regional office here, FDIC officials said Thursday.

Local banks aren't necessarily the focus of the concern for the FDIC, which insures bank deposits and disposes of failed banks and their assets.

Rather, most of the employees in the FDIC division that handles bank failures across the nation are based in Dallas.

The FDIC announced plans earlier this year to add 140 employees to its Division and Resolutions and Receiverships.

Now it says it may add more than 230, with local staffing from 164 at the beginning of the year to as many as 397.

The agency is even bringing back 69 retirees to help shoulder the burden.

More at Dallas News.

Washington Mutual, Seattle, WA
Closed September 25, 2008
"J.P. Morgan Chase bought the bulk of Washington Mutual's banking operations Thursday in a deal orchestrated by federal regulators who had seized control of the troubled thrift.

In a sign of the bank's worsening condition, regulators said WaMu had lost $16.7 billion in deposits since Sept. 15.

Saying WaMu had insufficient liquidty to meet its obligations and was "in an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business," the federal Office of Thrift Supervision closed the bank and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver.  The FDIC held a bidding process that ended in the sale to JPMorgan.

Regulator, who termed this the largest U.S. bank failure ever, said there will be no effect on the bank's depositors, but it appeared the WaMu shareholders would be wiped out as a result of the deal." - Portland Business Journal

Ameribank, Northfork, WV
Closed September 05, 2008
"Ameribank, Inc., was closed today by the Office of the Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named receiver.  The FDIC entered into purchase and assumption agreements with Pioneer Community Bank, Inc., Laeger, West Virginia, and The Citizens Savings Bank, Martins Ferry, Ohio to take over all of the deposits and certain assets of Ameribank, Inc., Northfork, West Virginia. - FDIC.gov

Silver State Bank, Henderson, NV
Closed September 05, 2008
"Regulators on Friday shut down Silver State Bank, saying the Nevada bank failed because of losses on soured loans, mainly in commercial real estate and land development.

It was the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank." - Associated Press

Integrity Bank, Alpharetta, GA
Closed August 29, 2008
"The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and state regulators Friday shut down Integrity Bank, a troubled local lender hurt by the real estate crisis.

...The FBI, which investigates possible financial crimes, is looking into the situation, said agency spokesman Stephen Emmett.  The 'FBI is working with the FDIC' on the case, but it 'is not prepared to discuss Integrity Bank at this time.'" - Atlanta Journal Constitution

The Columbian Bank and Trust, Topeka, KS
Closed August 22, 2008
"Columbian Bank and Trust Co. of Topeka, Kansas, was closed by U.S. regulators, the nation's ninth bank to collapse this year amid bad real-estate loans and writedowns stemming from a drop in home prices.

The bank, with $752 million in assets and $622 million in total deposits, was shuttered by the Kansas state bank commissioner's office and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the FDIC said yesterday in a statement." - Prison Planet

First Priority Bank, Bradenton, FL
Closed August 1, 2008
"The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said Friday it has taken control of the First Priority Bank of Bradenton, Florida, and that SunTrust Banks Inc. will assume the bank's deposits.

First Priority is the eighth U.S. bank to fail this year in the aftermath of the mortgage crisis, and the first Florida bank failure since March 2004.  Andrew Gray, spokesman for the FDIC, said the bank had "significant loan losses" in the Florida commercial real estate market that eroded its capital." - International Herald Times

First Heritage Bank, Newport Beach, CA
Closed July 25, 2008
"Bad loans to developers and home builders in Arizona and Nevada led to the failure Friday of an Arizona company's two banks, including First Heritage Bank in Newport Beach.

First National Bank of Nevada, Reno, NV
Closed July 25, 2008
"The FDIC announced Friday evening that Mutual of Omaha was buying First National, the first Nevada-based bank to fail in 18 years.

First National Bank is the fifth bank and the biggest bank to fail in Nevada since the Great Depression.  It is the seventh FDIC-insured bank to shut down this year." - Las Vegas Review Journal.

IndyMac Bank, Pasadena, CA
Closed July 11, 2008
"According to the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), in the nine months before it went into receivership, IndyMac incurred significant losses, severely depleting capital and jeopardizing the institution's continued viability.  IndyMac's mortgage banking operations focused on Alt0A single family mortgages, which the bank could not securitize and sell in late 2007 due to the decline in the secondary market for non-agency mortgage loans.

...On July 11, 2008, citing liquidity concerns, IndyMac Bank was placed into conservatorship by the FDIC.  A bridge bank, IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, was established to assume control of IndyMac Bank's  assets and secured liabilities (such as insured deposit accounts), and the bridge bank was put into conservatorship under the control of the FDIC.

... On June 30, 2008, the Center for Responsible Lending, a Washington think tank, released a report compiling information from various lawsuits filed by customers and former employees of IndyMac Bank, and alleged that managers and supervisors were being pressured to approve loans or risk being fired.  Before its collapse, IndyMac denied the allegations in teh report.

On July 16, 2008, an unnamed US Government official said that the FBI is investigating IndyMac for possible fraud.  While it is not clear if the investigation began before the bank was taken over by the FDIC, the investigation appears to be focused on the company itself, and not individuals within the company." - Wikipedia

First Integrity Bank, Staples, MN
Closed May 30, 2008
"It isn't easy for 75 federal officials and contractors to slip into a small town undetected and liquidate an 89-year-old bank without anyone knowing.  But that's what just happened in this old railroad town, population 3,200.  It's a scene that's likely to repeat itself across the country as banks struggle through a painful credit cycle, overwhelmed by troubled mortgages and soured construction loans.

First Integrity, which had two branches and $55 million in assets, was the fourth FDIC-insured bank to fall this year.  That's one more than during the entire three-year stretch leading up to 2008.  Some analysts predict that as many as 150 banks, mostly small and medium-size, could fail over the next three years." - Charleston.net

ANB Financial, Bentonville, AR
Closed May 09, 2008
"In overdeveloped Northwest Arkansas, real-estate officials estimate that property values have been steadily declining since 2007.  Early in the decade, the region saw a population explosion as more than 1,000 people in a month moved to Bentonville, Rogers and several nearby communities to work for Wal-Mart or one of its 1,250 locally based suppliers.  Developers began building new houses at a frantic pace, carving up sprawling farmland into fancy developments with names like Stone Meadow and Kensington Hills.

Then the housing market collapsed.  Soon developers were defaulting on their loans and declaring bankruptcy.  In May, federal regulators seized one Northwest Arkansas lender, ANB Financial, whose portfolio was overloaded with bad construction loans." - Galesburg.Com

Hume Bank, Hume, MO
Closed March 97, 2008
"The demise of the bank is a direct result of alleged improprieties by former bank management, which resulted in past-due loans not being reported and the true condition of the bank being misrepresented," Eric McClure, Missouri's commissioner of finance, said in a statement." - BankImplode.Com

Douglass National Bank, Kansas City, MO
Closed January 25, 2008
"Douglass National, with $58.5 million in total assets and $53.8 million in total deposits as of October 22, 2007, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the FDIC was named receiver.

In addition to assuming all the deposits of the failed bank, Liberty Bank and Trust Company, New Orleans, Louisiana, will purchase approximately $55.7 million of Douglas National's assets at book value, less a discount of $6.1 million.  The FDIC will retain approximately $2.8 million in assets for later disposition.

The transaction is the least costly resolution option, and the FDIC estimates that the cost to its Deposit Insurance Fund is approximately $5.6 million." - FDIC

Miami Valley Bank, Lakeview, OH
Closed October 4, 2007
"Less than a week after the failure of NetBank, federal regulators on Thursday announced the failure of an Ohio institution that also leaves some large depositors in limbo.

The Ohio Superintendent of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced the $86.7 million Miami Valley Bank's closing and the transfer of its insured deposits to The Citizens Banking Co., of Sandusky, Ohio.

This time, however, the scenario may be more painful than the NetBank's closing.  While NetBank's depositors received an immediate payout of 50 cents on the dollar for uninsured deposits, Miami Valley's depositors have received nothing so far." - The Street.Com

NetBank, Alpharetta, GA
Closed February 02, 2007
"NetBank, Inc., an online bank with $2.5 billion in assets, was shut down by the government on Friday because of an unstable level of mortgage defaults.

It was the largest thrift to fail since the tail end of the savings and loan crisis more than 14 years ago." - CNN Money

Metropolitan Savings Bank, Pittsburgh, PA
Closed February 02, 2007
No one had an inkling something was wrong at Metropolitan Savings Bank, the region's smallest bank, nestled in the heart of Lawrenceville.

The financial institution, founded in 1892, kept a very low profile.  Yet, like so many other small Pittsburgh banks and savings institutions, it met a particular need:  Providing mortgages for a very localized customer base." - Pittsburgh Tribune Review

This was the first bank failure since 2004.