A California bank was closed by government regulators today, making it the 99th bank failure of the year. Here are the details:
San Joaquin Bank of Bakersfield was closed, then taken over by Citizens Bank of Ontario. Estimated cost to the FDIC: $103 million.
DAVE
IS HORIZON BANK THE NEXT ONE TO BE CLOSED?? WHY CAN’T ANYONE WRITE ABOUT OUR LOCAL BANK??
SO MANY READERS ARE STOCKHOLDERS AND DEPOSITORS IN HORIZON BANK.
WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT IN THE NEWSPAPER.
DAVID
Mr. Smith,
I share your frustration regarding the Herald’s lack of coverage of Horizon Bank. Seattle Times business reporter Drew DeSilver wrote articles on Apr 30 and Aug 3 (see links below). There is also an interesting article about Horizon Bank violating its 1994 FDIC Order on the Northwest Citizen website.
Links (cut and paste into your browser):
Seattle Times Aug 4 article:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2009593036_horizon04.html
Seattle Times Apr 30 article:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2009152159_webhorizon30.html
Northwest Citizen article:
http://www.nwcitizen.us/entry/hope-for-chuckanut-ridge
Another article was published today on Crosscut.com, “Horizon Bank and the fate of Fairhaven Highlands” and can be viewed at:
http://crosscut.com/2009/10/26/bellingham/19314/
Hi David,
The FDIC takes quite a few measures to keep a lid on which bank(s) they’ll be closing next. Horizon is one of hundreds of banks in the U.S. on the list of troubled financial institutions. I wish I could give you further insight, but the FDIC doesn’t want to create a panic by saying which banks are on the verge of being closed/which ones they plan to keep open.
We continue to write articles about the latest information we get about Horizon and other local banks. I’ve written five stories specifically about Horizon’s financial state in recent months; I can send you the links if you want to see them (e-mail me at dave.gallagher@bellinghamherald.com). I’m also planning to a story about local community banks this week for Sunday’s paper.
David and Dave,
If you click on the “Investor Relations” tab on Horizon Bank’s website (www.horizonbank.com) you’ll be redirected to SNL Financial, a major financial data firm. SNL Financial prepared a summary of the most undercaptalized banks in the US based on each bank’s June 30, 2009 Uniform Bank Performance Report (UBPR). The Street.com reported this summary, sorted by state, on its website:
http://www.thestreet.com/files/tsc/common/images/storyimages/0827_banks.html
The same data sorted by most undercapitalized banks is available here:
http://nwcitizen.us/documents/Larry-Divesting_FH/Undercapitalized%20Banks%206-30-09.pdf
As you can see, this list includes 116 banks. Horizon was the 40th most undercapitalized as of Aug 21; however, 14 of the worst 40 banks have been closed by the FDIC, leaving Horizon as the 26th most undercapitalized as of today (based on June 30 financial info).
Banks are in the process of submitting their Sep 30 UBPRs and a new list will be created in a month or so. Horizon has not yet published its 3rd quater results.