The over/under for the Friday Night Frights was 4. If you bet the over, you are a winner. Seven failures tonight. It might have something to do with the holiday schedule. Tonight’s bank failures were unusual, very unusual. We started out, in standard fashion, with a failure in Georgia. The Peach State leads the nation in bank failures; 25 so far this year.

Rockbridge Commercial Bank in Atlanta failed tonight, but there have been so many failures in Georgia the FDIC could not find a buyer of the most Rockbridge Mess. There was some hope that Billy Bob’s Bar-B-Q and Trust would submit an offer to the Feds, but apparently receipts from the jukebox have been down lately. Rockbridge was only in business for 3 years. They thought they could profit from the real estate bubble. They picked a bad time to go into the banking bidness. The FDIC will mail checks to Rockbridge customers.

Next, Peoples First Community in Florida – a decent sized failure – will be taken over by Hancock Bank.

Citizens State Bank in Michigan became the 136^th failure of the year – again there was no bank that stepped forward to take over the failed Citizens; the FDIC will create a temporary, stop gap bank and close out the retail accounts over the next 45 days.

New South Federal in Alabama – a decent sized failure – will be acquired by Beal Bank.

Independent Bankers' Bank in Illinois failed. The bank was a commercial bank with no retail customers, and no buyers to step up and acquire anything, so the FDIC created the Independent Bankers' Bank Bridge Bank – another stop gap, to wind up the affairs.

Out on the West Coast, Imperial Capital Bank in La Jolla, CA – a semi-large bank– is closed and will be taken over by City National of LA. Imperial had $4 bln in assets, $2.8 bln in deposits, and will cost the DIF $619 million. Wait, there is fuzzy bank math going on here. The President and CEO of Imperial was the former President of First Bank of Beverly Hills, which failed in April. Who says experience doesn’t matter? La Jolla is one of the rich areas of San Diego. Are the Plutonomists starting to feel the pain? Didn’t Citigroup say the Plutonomists were so omnipotent they could lift us all out of the carnage?

First Federal Bank of California of Santa Monica – ($6 bln) – falls to OneWest of Pasadena, CA. FirstFed had gorged on adjustable rate mortgages a few years back. The CEO of FirstFed announced her retirement one week ago. The newly appointed CEO proclaimed, "Our loan modification program has reduced the risk of losses in our mortgage portfolio, and our retail deposits are growing." That was one week ago! How can you tell when a banker is lying? When their lips move. And if OneWest sounds vaguely familiar, it is the new owners of the failed IndyMac.

Three of the seven failures could not find a buyer, or a bank that was willing to assume the deposits and clean up the mess. While it might be safe to say that the FDIC has been dragging their feet in closing insolvent banks in a timely manner, we now have a reason. They don’t have buyers!

Also, the FDIC doesn’t have money. They are $16.8 billion in arrears for 2009. They are requiring member banks to cough up $45 billion in pre-payment of fees from 2010 through 2012. And tonight cost another $1.8 billion, leaving $26.8 to pay out of uncollected pre-payments.And they’re going to need about $100 billion to clean up the known bad banks.  In other words, the FDIC doesn’t have any money.

Like I said – WEIRD.

Here’s the rundown:

#134 - The FDIC approved the payout of the insured deposits of RockBridge Commercial Bank, Atlanta, Georgia. The bank was closed Friday, December 18, 2009 by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the FDIC as receiver.

The FDIC was unable to find another financial institution to take over the banking operations of RockBridge Commercial Bank. As a result, checks to the retail depositors for their insured funds will be mailed on Monday.

RockBridge Commercial Bank had approximately $294.0 million in total assets and $291.7 million in total deposits. At the time of closing, the bank had an estimated $2.1 million in uninsured funds. This amount is an estimate that is likely to change once the FDIC obtains additional information from these customers.

RockBridge Commercial Bank is the 134th FDIC-insured bank failure this year and the twenty-fifth in Georgia. The FDIC estimates the cost of the failure to its Deposit Insurance Fund to be approximately $124.2 million.

Cert # 58315

# 135 - Peoples First Community Bank, Panama City, Florida, was closed Friday, December 18, 2009 by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. Hancock Bank, Gulfport, Mississippi will assume all of the deposits of Peoples First Community Bank.

Peoples First Community Bank had approximately $1.8 billion in total assets and $1.7 billion in total deposits, and 29 branch locations.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $556.7 million. Peoples First Community Bank is the 135th FDIC-insured bank failure in the nation this year, and the fourteenth in Florida.

Cert# 32167

#136 - Citizens State Bank, New Baltimore, Michigan, was closed Friday, December 18, 2009 by the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation, which then appointed the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of New Baltimore (DINB), which will remain open for approximately 45 days to allow depositors access to their insured deposits and time to open accounts at other insured institutions.

At the time of closing, the receiver immediately transferred to the DINB all insured savings, checking, and secured public units of Citizens State Bank. Certificates of deposit (CDs) and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) were not transferred over to the DINB. The FDIC will mail checks directly to deposit customers who had CDs and IRAs with Citizens State Bank.

The Huntington National Bank, Columbus, Ohio, will provide operational management of the DINB under a contract with the FDIC. All insured depositors of Citizens State Bank are encouraged to transfer their insured funds to other banks. Under the FDI Act, the FDIC may create a deposit insurance national bank to ensure that depositors have continued access to their insured funds where no other bank has agreed to assume the insured deposits.

Citizens State Bank had $168.6 million in total assets and $157.1 million in total deposits. At the time of closing, deposits of approximately $803,000 potentially exceeded the insurance limits.

The cost to the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund is estimated to be $76.6 million. Citizens State Bank is the 136th bank to fail this year and the fourth in Michigan.

Cert # 1006

# 137 - New South Federal Savings Bank, Irondale, Alabama, was closed Friday, December 18, 2009 by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. Beal Bank, Plano, Texas will assume all of the deposits of New South Federal Savings Bank.

New South Federal Savings Bank had approximately $1.5 billion in total assets and $1.2 billion in total deposits, and one location. Beal Bank did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of New South Federal Savings Bank.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $212.3 million. New South Federal Savings Bank is the 137th FDIC-insured bank failure in the nation this year, and the third in Alabama.

Cert # 32276

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) created a bridge bank to take over the operations of Independent Bankers' Bank, Springfield, Illinois, after the bank was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation—Division of Banking, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. The newly created bank is Independent Bankers' Bank Bridge Bank, National Association.

Independent Bankers' Bank did not take deposits directly from the general public nor did it make loans to consumers. It was a commercial bank that provided correspondent banking services to its client banks.

Independent Bankers' Bank had approximately 450 client banks in four states, and operated one regional office. It provided a variety of services for its clients, including clearing accounts, investments, consulting, purchasing loans, and selling loan participations. Since the FDIC created a new bank to take over the operations of Independent Bankers' Bank, there is not expected to be any meaningful impact on the bank's clients.

Independent Bankers' Bank had approximately $585.5 million in assets and $511.5 million in deposits. At the time of closing, the bank had an estimated $269,000 in uninsured funds.

The FDIC has contracted for operational management of Independent Bankers' Bank Bridge Bank.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $68.4 million. Independent Bankers' Bank is the 138th bank to fail in the nation this year and the twenty-first in Illinois.

Cert # 26820

# 139 - Imperial Capital Bank, La Jolla, California, was closed Friday, December 18, 2009 by the California Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. City National Bank, Los Angeles, California will assume all of the deposits of Imperial Capital Bank.

Imperial Capital Bank had approximately $4.0 billion in total assets and $2.8 billion in total deposits, and 9 branch locations. City National Bank paid the FDIC a .24 percent premium for the right to assume all of the deposits of Imperial Capital Bank.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $619.2 million. Imperial Capital Bank is the 139th FDIC-insured institution bank failure in the nation this year, and the sixteenth in California.

Cert # 26348

#140 - First Federal Bank of California, a Federal Savings Bank, Santa Monica, California, was closed Friday, December 18, 2009 by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. OneWest Bank, FSB, Pasadena, California will assume all of the deposits of First Federal Bank of California.

As of September 30, 2009, First Federal Bank of California had approximately $6.1 billion in total assets and $4.5 billion in total deposits, and 39 branches. OneWest Bank, FSB did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $146.3 million. First Federal Bank of California is the 140th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the seventeenth in California.

Cert # 28536

Sinclair Noe

Eat the Bankers

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