[WSJ]Freedom Bank becomes 17th bank to fail.

BetterThanEver · Nov 2, 2008

Another one bites the dust. I am worried that the FDIC might not be able to cover all the insured deposits. In September, the FDIC had only $45 billion to cover $4.29 trillion in deposits. That's about 1% coverage. If some more banks fail, I can see them blowing through 2% of their funds.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122549231254289311.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Fifth Third Bancorp Takes Over Assets in 17th Bank Failure
By KATHY SHWIFF

Freedom Bank, based in Bradenton, Fla., became the 17th bank to fail this year.

On Friday, banking regulators declared Freedom Bank insolvent and named the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver. The FDIC approved the assumption of all Freedom's deposits by Fifth Third Bank, a unit of Fifth Third Bancorp.

Fifth Third said it will assume about $250 million of deposits, including all uninsured deposits. The FDIC will retain substantially all of Freedom's loan portfolio for later disposition.

The deal gives Fifth Third about $675 million in deposits in the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area and raised its deposit market share in that market to fourth from eighth, according to recent FDIC data.

Most of the failed banks have been small. The largest so far this year was the $307 billion Seattle thrift Washington Mutual Inc., which was seized by federal regulators Sept. 25. The bulk of WaMu's operations were sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The second largest of the year was the $32 billion IndyMac Bank, taken down July 11 in Pasadena, Calif.

Another bank in Bradenton, First Priority Bank, failed in August. That was the first bank failure in Florida, a state still reeling from a spate of overbuilding and credit problems, since 2004.

Fifth Third said it will operate Freedom Bank's four branches beginning Monday under the Fifth Third Bank name. Customers should continue to use their existing branches until Fifth Third integrates Freedom's deposit records. After a transition period, Freedom's customers will have access to Fifth Third's 16 locations in the Bradenton-Sarasota market as well as to its nearly 1,300 branches and more than 2,300 ATMs in 12 states.

Fifth Third said it will work with Freedom's employees to identify potential job opportunities.

Fifth Third's shares were at $10.86, up 0.1%, in after-hours trading
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[WSJ]Freedom Bank becomes 17th bank to fail.

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