U.S. regulators on Friday closed a large bank in Florida and two smaller ones in Georgia and Illinois, with the three total closures pushing this year's tally of failures to 68.
The Florida bank--Lydian Private Bank based in Palm Beach--is the fifth-largest failure this year by assets. The Georgia bank--First Southern National Bank, based in Statesboro--pushes that state's tally to 17 this year, the most in the country.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed both those banks. Sabadell United Bank agreed to take over Lydian, while HeritageBank of the South, a unit of Heritage Financial Group Inc. (HBOS), said it would take over First Southern.
First Choice Bank in Geneva, Ill., was shut by that state's department of financial and professional regulation. Inland Bank & Trust of Oak Brook, Ill., agreed to take it over. The three failures Friday struck in the three states with the most failures in the country so far this year. Behind Georgia, Florida now has 10 and Illinois, 7.
Still, with 68 total failures this year, the pace has slowed. By this point last year, 110 banks were shut by regulators.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Miami-based Sabadell would purchase virtually all of the assets of Lydian, in addition to assuming all the deposits. At the end of June, assets totaled $1.7 billion and deposits were $1.24 billion.
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