Six banks closed by regulators
* Total failures at 125, versus 140 last year
* Community banks still the hardest hit (Adds details on shuttered banks)
By Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - U.S. bank regulators closed three small banks in Georgia, one in Wisconsin, one in Ohio and one in New Jersey, the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said on Friday.
The failures bring to 125 the total number of banks that have failed this year, many of them community banks.
Community banks continue to be hit hard by the weak economy and bad loans on their books. The recovery of the community bank industry has lagged behind that of Wall Street and the larger economy.
In Georgia, regulators closed the Peoples Bank in Winder which had 14 branches and total assets of $447.2 million as of the end of June, First Commerce Community Bank in Douglasville with two branches and total assets of $248.2 million, and the Bank of Ellijay in Ellijay, which had two branches and total assets of $168.8 million.
Deposits in the three banks were transferred to Community & Southern Bank in Carrollton, Georgia.
In Wisconsin, regulators closed the Maritime Savings Bank in West Allis, Wisconsin, which had nine branches and about $350.5 million in total assets as of the end of June. Its deposits will be assumed by North Shore Bank, also in Wisconsin.
The FDIC said regulators had closed ISN Bank of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, which had about $81.6 million in total assets. New Century Bank has assumed its deposits.
Bramble Savings Bank in Milford, Ohio, which has just one branch and assets of $47.5 million, was also closed by regulators. It will be taken over by Foundation Bank.
FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said in recent weeks that the agency anticipates the number of failures this year will exceed the 2009 total of 140, but that total assets of this year's failures will probably be lower.
The annual level of bank failures has not reached the levels during the savings and loan crisis, when 534 institutions were seized in 1989 alone.
While failures are still occurring at a rapid pace, it is mostly smaller institutions that have been collapsing as they deal with problems in the commercial real estate market. Community banks tend to have higher concentrations of these loans than larger banks.
Washington Mutual, which had $307 billion in assets when it was seized in September 2008, remains the largest bank to fail during the financial crisis.
The FDIC, which insures individual accounts up to $250,000, gave an update on the overall health of the bank industry on August 31, saying that while it sees improvements in the industry the struggling economy continues to be a factor in the the reluctance of businesses and consumers to borrow. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Richard Chang)
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. Leider bin ich auch noch nicht so in dem Fall belesen wie es einige hier schon sind, die dies schon länger erleben, ich arbeite es aber Stück für Stück auf, um mir auch einbisschen mehr von dieser wahnsinns Geschichte um Wamu näher zubringen.
