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Regulators shut down banks in Fla., Ga., Ore., Wash.; makes 108 US bank failures this year
Regulators on Friday shut banks in Florida, Georgia, Oregon and Washington, lifting to 108 the number of U.S. banks to fail this year as the industry has struggled to cope with mounting loan defaults and recession.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over the banks: Bayside Savings Bank in Port Saint Joe, Fla., with $66.1 million in assets; Coastal Community Bank, based in Panama City, Fla., with $372.9 million in assets; NorthWest Bank and Trust, based in Acworth, Ga., with assets of $167.7 million; Cowlitz Bank in Longview, Wash., assets of $529.3 million; and LibertyBank, based in Eugene, Ore., assets of $768.2 million.
Florida and Georgia are among the states with the highest concentrations of bank collapses and where the meltdown in the real estate market brought an avalanche of soured mortgage loans. The failures of Bayside Savings Bank and Coastal Community Bank brought to 20 the number of Florida banks that have fallen this year. Northwest Bank and Trust was the 11th Georgia bank to fail. Also high on the list of failure-heavy states are California and Illinois.
Source: Associated Press