by Calculated Risk on 9/11/2009 09:43:00 PM

This is an unofficial list of Problem Banks.

Note: Bank failures today, Corus Bank, N.A., Chicago IL, Brickwell Community Bank, Woodbury, MN, and Venture Bank, Lacey, WA, were on this list.

Changes and comments from surferdude808:

The Unofficial Problem Bank List increased by 3 institutions to 424; however, assets jumped by $18.8 billion to $286.6 billion.

We added seven institutions and removed four institutions from last week’s list. Most prominent among the additions are United Commercial Bank (ticker UCBH), San Francisco, CA with assets of $12.8 billion, La Jolla Bank, FSB, La Jolla, CA with assets of $3.9 billion, and Bank of Granite (ticker GRAN), Granite Falls, NC, with assets of $1.1 billion, which has the dubious distinction of being once praised by Warren Buffet as one of the best run banks in the country (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/927809.html).

The removals include three failures on September 4th and one action termination by the OCC. The other change to the list is a Prompt Corrective Action being issued by the FDIC against Rainier Pacific Bank, Tacoma, WA, which is reportedly already operating under a Cease & Desist Order.

Starting with its release of actions during July 2009, the FDIC is disclosing its notice of charges against institutions that are contesting enforcement actions. In an American Banker article some industry observers thought this new disclosure is very harsh as it includes specific details on why the agency is seeking an enforcement order. One banker quoted in the article thought the FDIC started disclosing the charges to limit dissent -- "This is just another way of putting additional pressure on community banks to consent to these orders, even if they think it is not in the best interest of the bank," said Jeffrey C.. Gerrish, a partner at the law firm Gerrish McCreary Smith PC in Memphis. "The inflammatory nature of these charges could certainly do damage to a community bank." The FDIC said it is only trying to make the “information accessible” and that most information becomes public if there is a hearing. While we applaud the FDIC in providing increased transparency around its actions, we would like the FDIC to improve the timeliness of their disclosures regarding new enforcement actions. Generally, the other agencies will release their actions as they occur while the FDIC only discloses its actions once a month on a lagged basis. For example, the FDIC will disclose its actions for August at the end of September.

The list is compiled from regulator press releases or from public news sources (see Enforcement Action Type link for source). The FDIC data is released monthly with a delay, and the Fed and OTC data is more timely. The OCC data is a little lagged. Credit: surferdude808.

See description below table for Class and Cert (and a link to FDIC ID system).

For a full screen version of the table click here.

The table is wide - use scroll bars to see all information!

NOTE: Columns are sortable - click on column header (Assets, State, Bank Name, Date, etc.)





Class: from FDIC

The FDIC assigns classification codes indicating an institution's charter type (commercial bank, savings bank, or savings association), its chartering agent (state or federal government), its Federal Reserve membership status (member or nonmember), and its primary federal regulator (state-chartered institutions are subject to both federal and state supervision). These codes are:

N National chartered commercial bank supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

SM State charter Fed member commercial bank supervised by the Federal Reserve

NM State charter Fed nonmember commercial bank supervised by the FDIC

SA State or federal charter savings association supervised by the Office of Thrift Supervision

SB State charter savings bank supervised by the FDIC

Cert: This is the certificate number assigned by the FDIC used to identify institutions and for the issuance of insurance certificates. Click on the number and the Institution Directory (ID) system "will provide the last demographic and financial data filed by the selected institution".