After a hiatus of almost two months bank failures resumed with a Florida bank becoming the 17 bank failure of the year.
Regulators got back to work and closed the First Community Bank of Southwest Florida, Fort Meyers, FL, also operating as Community Bank of Cape Coral, Cape Coral, FL. The holding company for the failed bank is Southwest Florida Community Bancorp, Inc., Fort Meyers, FL.
First Community Bank of Southwest Florida, a mid sized bank with $254 million in assets, becomes the 17th banking failure of the year. Total assets of all 17 banks that failed during 2013 are $2.2 billion and total losses to the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund total $401.2 million.
Troubled loans had been steadily increasing at First Community Bank since early 2009 and recently ballooned ever further during the first two quarters of 2013. At March 31, 2013, First Community had an extremely high troubled asset ratio of 417%. Almost without exception a bank with a troubled asset ratio over 100% has ultimately wound up failing.
The FDIC sold the failed bank to C1 Bank, Saint Petersburg, Florida. To protect depositors, C1 Bank will assume all of the deposits of the failed bank. In addition to assuming all deposits C1 Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank’s assets.
At March 31, 2013, First Community had total assets of $265.7 million and total deposits of $254.2 million. All seven branches of failed First Community will reopen during normal business hours as branches of C1 Bank. Depositors will continue to have full FDIC deposit insurance up to the applicable limits. Over the weekend depositors of First Community will have access to their money through the use of checks, ATMs and debit cards.
The cost to the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund comes in at $27.1 million. First Community Bank of Southwest Florida becomes the 17th banking failure of 2013 and the third in Florida.
