Friday evening at the FDIC - two more banks fail

Friday evening the FDIC took control of two failed banks, arranging for Branch Banking & Trust (BB&T), Winston-Salem, NC to assume all deposits of Haven Trust Bank, Duluth, Georgia and for The Pecos County State Bank, Fort Stockton, Texas to assume all deposits of Sanderson State Bank, Sanderson, Texas. In other words, all deposits, including those above the $250,000 FDIC limit, were protected.

The FDIC does not give any advance notice of bank closures. In fact, it is usually a state banking regulator who does the closure and then FDIC is "named receiver" and then takes over and promptly arranges to sell as much deposits and assets as it can to a healthier bank.

The basic idea is to totally avoid old-fashioned "runs" on banks and pre-arrange the assumption of deposits by a healthy bank before the closure is even announced. In other words, there should be no disruption of service and no need for customers to lose any sleep.

There have been 25 banks that have been closed by regulators this year, which is a lot compared to a normal year, but miniscule considering that all that has happened this year and the fact that there are over 8,000 banks and savings associations in the U.S.

-- Jack Krupansky