Friday evening at the FDIC - first bank failures of 2009 - National Bank of Commerce, Berkeley, IL and Bank of Clark County, Vancouver, WA

Friday evening the FDIC took control of two faileds banks. For the first bank failure of 2009, the FDIC arranged for Republic Bank of Chicago, Oak Brook, IL to assume all deposits of National Bank of Commerce, Berkeley, IL. Also, the FDIC arranged for Umpqua Bank, Roseburg, OR to assume only the insured deposits of Bank of Clark County, Vancouver, WA. Alas,  there were approximately $39.3 million in uninsured deposits held at Clark in approximately 138 accounts that potentially exceeded the insurance limits, out of total deposits of $366.5 million.

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.

-- Jack Krupansky