Regulators shutter two more U.S. banks

11/5/2012

On Friday, regulators closed two more banks: Citizens First National Bank located in Princeton, Illinois and Heritage Bank of Florida based in Lutz, Florida. The total number of bank failures for 2012 now stands at 49, which is behind last year’s pace of 87 and well off the 2010 pace when 143 banks failed at this same time.

With assets of $958.1 million at June 30, 2012, Citizens First National Bank had been rated E+ or lower (Very Weak) for the last four quarters by Weiss Ratings and was first identified as “Weak” in December 2008. The bank reported a loss of $523 thousand through the period ended June 30, 2012, and had below-FDIC-mandated Tier 1 (5 percent) and risk-based capital ratio (6 percent) of 2.28 percent and 5.01 percent, respectively. Nonperforming loans made up 12.4 percent of its loan portfolio, while adjusted nonperforming loans represented 157 percent of core capital. Heartland Bank and Trust Co., with assets of $1.98 billion and a Weiss Rating of B-, will assume the deposits of Citizens First National Bank, becoming Heartland’s fourth acquisition since 2007.

Heritage Bank, with assets of $234.4 million at June 30, 2012, had been rated E+ or lower (Very Weak) for the last eight quarters by Weiss Ratings and was first identified as “Weak” in June 2010. The bank reported no profit or loss through the six months ended June 30, 2012. Heritage Bank had below-FDIC-mandated Tier 1 (5 percent) of 3.73 percent and marginally above-FDIC-mandated risk-based capital ratio (6 percent) of 6.16 percent. Nonperforming loans to total loans represented 4.6 percent of its loan portfolio, while adjusted nonperforming loans to core capital was 60 percent. Deposits of Heritage Bank will be assumed by Centennial Bank, which is headquartered in Conway, Arkansas. Centennial Bank, with assets of $4.05 billion, has a Weiss Rating of C (Fair).

Since 2007, Georgia continues to lead the nation with 84 failures, followed by Florida (66), Illinois (55), California (39), and Minnesota (21). Together, these five states account for 57% of the nation’s bank failures since January 2007.

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See all bank failures since 2008.