Four banks fail in California; FDIC steps in
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Regulators closed four California banks late Friday, bringing the year-to-date failure count to 118 nationwide and 10 in the Golden State.
The four California institutions and the banks taking over their branches, deposits and most of their loans (the links are to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announcements):
--- Los Padres Bank, based in Solvang with $870 million in assets and 14 branches, will be bought by Pacific Western Bank of San Diego.
--- Sonoma Valley Bank, based in Sonoma with $337 million in assets and three branches, will be bought by Westamerica Bank of San Rafael.
--- Butte Community Bank, based in Chico with $499 million in assets and 14 branches, will be bought by Rabobank of El Centro.
--- Pacific State Bank, based in Stockton with $312 million in assets and nine branches, also will be bought by Rabobank.
On a busy day for the FDIC, regulators also closed two banks in Florida, one in Virginia, and Chicago-based ShoreBank -- a $2.2-billion-asset community lender that had ties to President Obama.
The biggest of the California banks that failed, Los Padres, had been owned by Harrington West Financial Group Inc. of Solvang. Harrington was warned by regulators in late July that the bank would be seized if the parent firm failed to quickly boost the lender’s capital cushion.
The other California bank failures this year: Granite Community Bank, Granite Bay; 1st Pacific Bank, San Diego; Tamalpais Bank, San Rafael; Innovative Bank, Oakland; La Jolla Bank, La Jolla; and First Regional Bank, Los Angeles.
-- Tom Petruno