Regulators seize Guaranty Bank, three others

Regulators seized four more financial institutions on Friday, including one big Texas bank that had been on the brink for months.

The latest closings brought the total for the year to 81, compared to 25 for all of 2008.

The Office of Thrift Supervision shut down Guaranty Bank, which was based in Austin, Texas and had $13 billion in assets. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. arranged for BBVA Compass, of Birmingham, Ala., to assume the failed bank's 162 branches in Texas and California, and most of its $12 billion in deposits.

BBVA also bought $12 billion of Guaranty Bank's assets, with $11 billion of that amount subject to a loss-sharing deal with the FDIC.

Guaranty Financial Group, the banks' parent company, said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last month that writeoffs tied to mortgage-backed securities had left it dangerously undercapitalized. It acknowledged then that it was unlikely to continue as a going concern.

Alabama regulators closed CapitalSouth Bank, of Birmingham. The FDIC arranged for Iberiabank, of Lafayette, La., to take over CapitalSouth's branches and its $546 million in deposits.

Iberiabank also bought $589 million of the failed bank's $617 million in assets. Iberiabank and the FDIC have a loss-sharing agreement on $499 billion of the acquired assets.

Regulators also seized two banks in Georgia, which has had more failures this year than any other state.

First Coweta Bank, in Newman, Ga., and Ebank, of Atlanta, were the latest casualties, brining the total since January to 19.

The FDIC arranged for United Bank, of Zebulon, Ga., to take over First Coweta's four branches, as well as its $155 million in deposits. United Bank paid a 1.01 percent premium for the deposits, and also agreed to buy $155 million of the failed bank's $167 million in assets, with $124 million subject to a loss-sharing agreement.

Stearns Bank NA, based in St. Cloud, Minn., assumed Ebank's sole branch and its roughly $130 million in deposits. Stearns also agreed to buy virtually all of the failed bank's $143 million in assets, with $111 million of that subject to loss sharing.

Stearns has taken over four closed banks in the past year through deals arranged by the FDIC.

The FDIC said this week's closings would cost its insurance fund an estimated $3.26 billion, with Guaranty Bank accounting for $3 billion of that figure.