US regulators close small Florida bank

1/19/2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — Regulators have closed a small lender in Florida, making it the first U.S. bank failure of 2015 following 18 closures last year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that it has taken over First National Bank of Crestview, in Crestview, Florida.

The bank operated three branches and had $78.7 million in assets and $78.6 million in deposits as of Sept. 30.

First NBC Bank, based in New Orleans, agreed to assume all of First National Bank of Crestview's deposits and to buy about $62 million of the failed bank's assets.

The three former First National Bank of Crestview branches will reopen as branches of First NBC Bank on Tuesday, following the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday.

The failure of First National Bank of Crestview is expected to cost the federal deposit insurance fund $4.4 million.

U.S. bank failures have been declining since peaking at 157 in 2010 following the financial crisis and the Great Recession.

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