FDIC Bank Failure Report - Updated

This report is current as of 11 December. The report for this weekend's closures will follow.

Well, 158 FDIC press releases later, we've finished updating our information. We'll work on historical data (i.e. before the past two weeks) in the near future.

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On 11/12/09, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation closed three banks: SolutionsBank, of Overland Park, KS; Valley Capital Bank, of Mesa AZ; and Republic Federal Bank, of Miami, FL. The total assets of the closed bank were $984,400,000, and total deposits were $815,300,000. The cost to the FDIC is estimated at $257,160,000.

According to our methodology, the recoverable value of the banks were $558,140,000, or only 56.70% of the declared asset value. This makes this week's closures distinctly below the cumulative recoverability since December of 2007, which stands at 57.48% (unchanged from last report's revised recoverability of 57.48%).

Cumulative cost-to-FDIC so far in the Depression was brought to $54,557,170,000. These closures bring the total declared assets of FDIC-failed banks (since December of 2007) to $530,012,680,000, and total FDIC-insured deposits to $359,189,520,000. The recoverable value of all failed banks was only $304,632,350,000 (57.48% of the declared value).

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The changes we made to our analysis (i.e. taking into account premiums/discounts which acquiring banks paid for failed banks' insured deposits) made a distinct difference. A difference of 0.08% - the difference between the revised recoverability (57.48%), and the unrevised (57.56%) - might not seem like much, but applied to the assets of all banks closed so far, the assets loose an additional $424 million in value. Isn't leverage a beautiful thing, dear Reader?

We don't have much to say about these three closures, however; the seem fairly average... which is probably a problem. We still feel in the FDIC is managing its closures to pick and choose its cost. A question occures to us as we write: does the FDIC pick their cost first, and then close the banks which fit within the cost they selected beforehand? Inquiring minds want to know.

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Because of the revisions we made to our data, we are updating the Frugal Scotsman's Ten Nastiest Bank Closures To Date. Here are the Gruesome Tensome:

1. IndyMac (CA) - 22.99%
2. BankUnited FSB (FL) - 28.91%
3. First Bank of Idaho - 37.10%, revised down from 37.39%
4. Community Bank of Nevada - 39.10%
5. Franklin Bank (TX) - up from #10 at 39.94%, revised down from 41.18%
6. Sherman County Bank (NE) - new to list, 40.06%
7. Horizon Bank (MN) - up from #8, 40.39%, revised down from 40.98%
8. First Bank of Beverly Hills (CA) - down from #6, 40.39%
9. Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast (FL) - new to list, 40.60%
10. Century Bank FSB (FL) - down from #5, 40.72%, revised up from 39.42%

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On the basis of the ratio of bank closures to population (i.e. simply the number of failures in each State, with no account of assets or deposits), the ten most afflicted States are listed here. Only those States which have two or more closures are considered.

1. Georgia
2. Nevada
3. Illinois
4. Kansas (up from #6)
5. Minnesota (down from #4)
6. Utah (down from #5)
7. Missouri
8. Florida (up from #9)
9. Oregon (down from #8)
10. Arizona

The recoverable value represents how much of declared assets are worth by our estimate on the open market. The following are the ten States with the lowest recoverable value; only those States which have had two or more closures are considered in this analysis.

1. Florida (36.65%, up from 36.13%)
2. California (42.28, revised down from 42.43%)
3. Michigan, up from #4 (42.78%, revised down from 43.18%)
4. Colorado down from #3 (42.80, revised up from 42.76%)
5. Nevada (49.81, revised down from 50.13%)
6. Ohio (50.84. revised down from 50.91%)
7. Georgia (54.62%, revised down from 54.75%)
8. Utah (55.45%. revised up from 55.39%)
9. Washington, up from #10 (56.18%)
10. North Carolina, new to list (56.70%)

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Due to the revisions, the FDIC did not spend as much money as we thought previously (it's complicated, don't ask). The Frugal Scotsman's FDIC Cash Burn Through O'Meter gets adjusted with a subtraction of $257,160,000, and also revised upward. The value stands at $41,387,410,000.