Regulators shut down LibertyPointe Bank

Regulators seized a New York bank on Thursday, in a rare departure from the usual carefully coordinated Friday night closings.

The New York State Banking Department took over LibertyPointe Bank and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver. The FDIC arranged for Valley National Bank to take over LibertyPointe's three branches, its $209.5 million in deposits and its $209.7 million in assets.

Valley National paid a 0.5 percent premium for the deposits, and entered into a loss-sharing deal with the government on $181.5 million of the assets.

LibertyPointe was based in New York City and was controlled by real estate developer Shaya Boymelgreen. It had long been on the FDIC's list of troubled institutions.

Regulators issued a cease-and-desist order against the bank last July, citing a high concentration of commercial real estate loans, excessive delinquencies and inadequate provisions for loan losses.

Last October, the bank was given 30 days to raise additional capital to strengthen its financial position.

The FDIC estimated that LibertyPointe's failure would cost its deposit insurance fund $24.8 million.

LibertyPointe was the 27th bank to fail so far this year.