by Calculated Risk on 11/13/2009 03:32:00 PM

A couple of banks in trouble ...

From Reuters: US credit card issuer Advanta files for bankruptcy (ht jb)

The company also said its Advanta Bank's capital is below regulatory requirements and that the bank could turned over to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp receivership.

Advanta said it decided not to fund the bank's capital shortfall to preserve value for other stakeholders.
emphasis added

Advanta bank has just under $3 billion in assets.

And from SignonSanDiego: Imperial Capital hits deadline to raise capital

The regulator-imposed deadline has passed for La Jolla's Imperial Capital Bank to raise additional capital, putting into question the future of the long-struggling institution.
...
Federal regulators first placed Imperial Capital under a cease-and-desist order in February. As part of that, the bank was required to submit a plan to raise additional capital.

The bank submitted its plan in August, but regulators rejected it and set yesterday as a deadline for the bank to sell stock to raise money or find a buyer.

Inperial has about $4.2 billion in assets, and has also received a Prompt Corrective Action from the FDIC:

On October 15, 2009, Imperial Capital Bank (the "Bank"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Imperial Capital Bancorp, Inc. (the "Company"), received a Supervisory Prompt Corrective Action Directive (the "Directive") from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the "FDIC").

A Prompt Corrective Action Directive is basically a "Hail Mary pass" and frequently means failure is imminent (though not always).