Regulators close banks in Indiana, Kentucky

Both of the institutions were subsidiaries of Irwin Financial Corp. of Columbus, Ind.

The Indiana Department of Financial Institutions seized Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co., of Columbus, and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver.

The FDIC arranged for First Financial Bank NA, based in Hamilton, Ohio, to assume the failed bank's branches, deposits and assets.

The Office of Thrift Supervision closed Irwin Union Bank FSB in Louisville, Ky. First Financial Bank also took over its branches, deposits and assets.

All 27 branches of the two banks will reopen today as branches of First First Financial. Between them, the banks had $2.54 billion in deposits and $3.19 billion in assets.

First Financial agreed to pay a 1 percent premium for Irwin Union Bank and Trust's $2.1 billion in deposits.

It entered into a loss-sharing arrangement with the FDIC on $2.5 billion of the failed banks' assets, meaning that the FDIC will bear much of the financial burden on their bad loans or investments.

First Financial Bank's parent company, First Financial Bancorp, got $80 million in taxpayer capital in December through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

It also took over the remains of Peoples Community Bank, of West Chester, Ohio, which was shut down by regulators last month.