by Calculated Risk on 11/07/2009 07:40:00 PM

Brian Wargo writes at the Las Vegas Sun: Construction nears standstill

The state bird of Nevada, the construction crane, is on the endangered species list.

... there are nine commercial projects of consequence under construction off from the Strip in Southern Nevada. Once most of those projects wind down early next year, there’s not much in the pipeline and development will essentially cease ... the long-range outlook ... is that there won’t be another major casino project built on the Strip for another decade. ...

As these remaining projects are completed thousands of construction workers will leave Las Vegas - impacting the local housing market and the Las Vegas economy.

“Once CityCenter is done, that is going to be it for a while,” [Steve Holloway, executive director of Associated General Contractors of Las Vegas] said. “It is going to be ugly. ... I think Southern Nevada is going to remain in this recession two to five more years.”

In many bubble areas, people thought high levels of construction activity and real estate related employment were the norm. I pointed out the obvious in 2005: "the areas most at risk have had the greatest increase in real estate related jobs". As usual, Vegas took the building boom to excess ...

by Calculated Risk on 11/07/2009 05:13:00 PM

From the Independent: Personal insolvencies rise to new record as unemployment bites

More people than ever before were declared insolvent in England and Wales during the third quarter of the year. Figures released by the Insolvency Service yesterday reveal that there were 35,242 personal insolvencies over the three months to the end of September, up by 28 per cent on the same period of 2008 ...

There was a decrease in corporate insolvencies in the U.K.

For the most recent stats in the U.S., from the American Bankruptcy Institute: October Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Reach New Highs, Up 28 Percent Over Last Year and a graph of U.S. personal bankruptcy filings here.

by Calculated Risk on 11/07/2009 01:09:00 PM

From the LA Times: United Commercial Bank is shut down, sold to East West Bancorp

Toppled by loan losses and misstated financial reports, San Francisco's United Commercial Bank was shut down by regulators Friday night ...

United Commercial's collapse may cause a greater-than-usual stir because a year ago the federal government invested $299 million in bailout funds in the bank in exchange for preferred stock, which was made worthless by the failure.

In addition, the FDIC said the collapse would cost the federal deposit insurance fund an estimated $1.4 billion.
...
United Commercial was burned by commercial lending losses, especially loans to developers and home builders during the housing boom. But it also was tainted by a financial scandal that resulted in a shake-up of its top management.

UCBH announced in September that its financial reports could not be trusted because of the "deliberate and improper actions and omissions of certain bank officers," who had understated losses in "an apparent desire to downplay deteriorating financial conditions."

UCBH Holdings, Inc. received $298,737,000 under the Troubled Asset Relief Program one year ago.

by Calculated Risk on 11/07/2009 09:08:00 AM

From The Telegraph: Bank of England says financiers are fuelling an economic 'doom loop'

On the eve of the G20 meeting of finance ministers in Scotland, Andy Haldane, the Bank's executive director for financial stability warned that the relationship between the state and banks represents a "doom loop" which will keep inflicting crises on the public unless arrested.

The warning, which follows Governor Mervyn King's call for investment banks to be split from their high street wings, is the most radical yet from the Bank, and comes amid growing concern that the G20 has abandoned any plans for far-reaching reforms.
...
Mr Haldane, who was a key part of a Bank unit which was among the first to warn, well ahead of the crisis, of a dangerous gap between what banks had in their balance sheets and what they were lending customers ...

Not much has been done to reform the banking system despite warnings from BofE's King, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, BofE's Haldane and others. As Haldane says, no reform equals a "doom loop".

by Calculated Risk on 11/06/2009 11:59:00 PM

From David Leonhardt at the NY Times: Broader Measure of Unemployment Stands at 17.5% Excerpts:

Officially, the Labor Department’s broad measure of unemployment goes back only to 1994. But early this year, with the help of economists at the department, The New York Times created a version that estimates it going back to 1970.
...
If statistics went back so far, the measure would almost certainly be at its highest level since the Great Depression.

In all, more than one out of every six workers — 17.5 percent — were unemployed or underemployed in October. The previous high was 17.1 percent, in December 1982.

There is much more in the article, but this suggest that the BLS' "Alternative measure of labor underutilization U-6"¹ is now at the highest level since the Great Depression.

¹ "Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers"

by Calculated Risk on 11/06/2009 09:40:00 PM

Sunrise in the East
United Commercial Bank
Sunsets in the West
by Soylent Green is People
From the FDIC: East West Bank, Pasadena, California Assumes All the Deposits of United Commercial Bank, San Francisco, California

United Commercial Bank, San Francisco, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. ...

As of October 23, 2009, United Commercial Bank had total assets of $11.2 billion and total deposits of approximately $7.5 billion. ...

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $1.4 billion. ... United Commercial Bank is the 120th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the 14th in California. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Pacific National Bank, San Francisco, which closed on October 30, 2009.

A late night whale makes five ...

by Calculated Risk on 11/06/2009 09:27:00 PM

Note: This was before the FDIC seized four banks today.

This is an unofficial list of Problem Banks.

Changes and comments from surferdude808:

The steady climb in members on the Unofficial Problem Bank list continued this week despite the failure of the multi-bank holding company FBOP Corporation, which took down 9 banks including 5 banks with aggregate assets of $17.5 billion that were on the Unofficial Problem Bank List.

There were 10 additions this week, which pushes the total number of institutions on the list to 505, up from 500 last week. Aggregate assets did drop to $330 billion from $341 billion a week ago.

Notable additions include Hanmi Bank, Los Angeles, CA ($3.9 billion, ticker HAFC); Bank of Blue Valley, Overland Park, KS ($810 million, ticker BVBC.OB); and San Luis Trust Bank, FSB, San Luis Obispo, CA ($369 million, ticker SNLS..OB). In addition, another banker’s bank was added -- Independent Banker's Bank of Florida, Lake Mary, FL. The failure of Silverton Bank, N.A., another banker’s bank based in Georgia, back in May was a costly failure for the FDIC.

By next Friday, the OCC may release its actions for October.

This week we looked over the numbers to determine which states have the most stress in their banking sector. For the ranking, we added together the number of institutions that are on the Unofficial Problem Bank List and failures since 2008 and divided by the number of institutions headquartered in the state and failures since 2008. Interestingly, Georgia is not the top ranked state. Here is the top 10 list; actually top 11 as Maryland and Colorado are in a virtual tie. Please note that we only ranked states with at least 15 institutions headquartered within their borders, as we did not want the ranking influenced by a small banking market.

State	Percent
Washington	26.3%
Utah	25.0%
Arizona	21.3%
Nevada	20.0%
Oregon	19.5%
Georgia	19.2%
California	17.8%
Florida	16.3%
Michigan	13.2%
Maryland	10.8%
Colorado	10.6%

Washington State leads the way with more than 26 percent of its banking industry either under formal enforcement action or having failed. No wonder the esteemed governor wrote a letter to the state’s congressional delegation complaining about bank regulators (see Wall Street Journal article).

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire sent a letter to her congressional delegation Oct. 9 complaining that "federal regulators have applied inflexible 'one size fits all' regulatory standards on community banks and potential investors that hinder the ability of these community banks to weather the financial storm and actually inhibit opportunities to raise critically needed capital at the local level." Her letter came just days after the Federal Reserve declined to approve the sale of Frontier Financial, the fifth-largest bank in her state, to a New York investment fund for $450 million. Frontier Financial Chief Executive Patrick Fahey declined to comment.

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".

by Calculated Risk on 11/06/2009 07:13:00 PM

Whats a "Prosperan"?
A breakfast food, car or band?
Answer: money pit

Looming Gateway Arch
Symbol of pioneer spirit
Their bank now a ghost.
by Soylent Green is People
From the FDIC: Alerus Financial, National Association, Grand Forks, North Dakota, Assumes All of the Deposits of Prosperan Bank, Oakdale, Minnesota

Prosperan Bank, Oakdale, Minnesota, was closed today by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. ...

As of August 31, 2009, Prosperan Bank had total assets of $199.5 million and total deposits of approximately $175.6 million. ...

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $60.1 million. ... Prosperan Bank is the 118th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the sixth in Minnesota. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Riverview Community Bank, Ostego, on October 23, 2009

From the FDIC: Central Bank of Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri, Assumes All of the Deposits of Gateway Bank of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri

Gateway Bank of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, was closed today by the Missouri Division of Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. ...

As of September 25, 2009, Gateway Bank of St. Louis had total assets of $27.7 million and total deposits of approximately $27.9 million. ...

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $9.2 million. ... Gateway Bank of St. Louis is the 119th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the third in Missouri. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was First Bank of Kansas City, Kansas City, on September 4, 2009.

That makes four today ...

by Calculated Risk on 11/06/2009 06:17:00 PM

Motor City crash.
Home Federal has spun out.
Bagholders totaled
by Soylent Green is People
From the FDIC: Liberty Bank and Trust Company, New Orleans, Louisiana, Assumes All of the Deposits of Home Federal Savings Bank, Detroit, Michigan

Home Federal Savings Bank, Detroit, Michigan, was closed today by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. ...

As of September 24, 2009, Home Federal Savings Bank had total assets of $14.9 million and total deposits of approximately $12.8 million. ...

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $5.4 million. ... Home Federal Savings Bank is the 117th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the third in Michigan. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Warren Bank, Warren, on October 2, 2009.

A small one ... but it counts.

by Calculated Risk on 11/06/2009 05:05:00 PM

"Feds!... Come and Take Them"
United Security
Sparta Bank is dead.
by Soylent Green is People
From the FDIC: Ameris Bank, Moultrie, Georgia, Assumes All of the Deposits of United Security Bank, Sparta, Georgia

United Security Bank, Sparta, Georgia, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. ...

As of September 14, 2009, United Security Bank had total assets of $157 million and total deposits of approximately $150 million. ...

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $58 million. ... United Security Bank is the 116th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the twenty-first in Georgia. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was American United Bank, Lawrenceville, on October 23, 2009.

Off to a quick start ...