Three more banks fail

Regulators closed three more banks, including Silverton Bank of Atlanta, which primarily served other financial institutions.

Thirty two banks have failed so far this year, compared with 25 for all of 2008.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency shut down Silverton and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver. No buyers could be found for the bank, so the FDIC will be winding down its operations.

Silverton did not take deposits from the general public or make consumer loans. Instead it provided a variety of services to other banks, including credit card operations, investments, and the buying and selling of loans.

It served roughly 1,400 client banks in 44 states. Silverton had $3.3 billion in deposits and $4.1 billion in total assets. The FDIC estimated that Silverton's failure would cost its insurance fund $1.3 billion - the biggest hit to that fund so far this year.

The Utah Department of Financial Institutions closed American West Bank, of Logan, Utah, and appointed the FDIC as receiver. It arranged for Cache Valley Bank, also of Logan, to take over the bank's branches and deposits.

American West had $284.1 million in deposits and $299.4 million in total assets. Cache Valley received a discount of $352,000 to buy the deposits. It also bought other assets for $10.9 million, and got a 30-day option to buy the failed bank's loans at book value.

Cache Valley's own balance sheet was bolstered in December with $4.77 million in taxpayer capital through the Treasury Department's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance closed Citizens Community Bank, of Ridgewood, N.J., and appointed the FDIC as receiver. North Jersey Community Bank, of Englewood Cliffs, agreed to take over the failed bank.

Citizens Community had $43.7 million in deposits and $45.1 million in total assets. North Jersey Community paid a premium of 0.67 percent to acquire the deposits. It also bought $11.5 million of the failed bank's assets.

The FDIC said the closings of American West and Citizens Community would cost its insurance fund around $137.5 million.