Sep 21 2009 Emmanuel Olaoye
Regulators have closed two more banks, owned by the same parent, taking the number of failed banks to 94 in 2009. The two banks were part of Irwin Financial Corporation, of Columbus, Indiana, and had assets of about $3.2bn and deposits of $2.5bn. The banks failed because of losses from commercial real estate loans. Irwin also had problems with regulators. In October, Irwin received a written agreement from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions ordering it to raise more capital after the capital ratios in its banks fell below the levels would allow them to be deemed well capitalized.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sold the banks to First Financial Bank, of Ohio. Under the agreement, First Financial will assume all of the deposits of the failed banks as well as share in losses on the banks' bad loans. The failures are expected to cost the FDIC's deposit insurance fund $850m.
