We are a few weeks into earnings season and it should be abundantly clear that financial institutions are firing on all cylinders.  In fact, financials are leading the broader market for the first time since 1993.  Yet, loan losses have been absolutely enormous.  What gives?
The Great Giveaway is the essence of recent market performance in [...]

From the FDIC website. More information available here:
Great Basin Bank of Nevada, Elko, Nevada, was closed today by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Nevada State Bank, Las Vegas, Nevada, to assume [...]

Small banks are going bust at a pretty good clip.  Apparently, there is no free ride for the likes of American Sterling Bank.  Its deposits were acquired by Metcalf Bank as the FDIC took it into receivership a.k.a nationalized it.  But, of course, this process does not apply for big banks.  Their executives get to [...]

This just in from the FDIC. Another Friday night special:
Omni National Bank, Atlanta, Georgia, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which then appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into an agreement with SunTrust Bank, Atlanta, Georgia, to act [...]

FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair said, “It has been clear for some time that troubled loans and securities have depressed market perceptions of banks and impeded new lending. Difficult market conditions have complicated efforts to sell these troubled assets because potential buyers have not had access to financing. The Legacy Loans Program aligns [...]

From the Wall Street Journal:
In the latest dramatic move by federal authorities to prop up the nation’s banking system, regulators late Friday seized control of the two largest wholesale credit unions in the U.S. after finding that their losses on mortgage-related securities were even larger than previously thought.
U.S. Central Corporate Federal Credit Union and Western [...]

From Justin Fox of Time Magazine:
 
FDIC chairman Sheila Bair doesn’t think a full government takeover of Citigroup and other multinational financial institutions is practical or even possible. Here are her reasons, as summarized by Pete Davis:
1. The legal authority to take over large banks does not currently extend to multinational financial conglomerates;
2. The FDIC lacks the funding to conduct [...]

Two more Friday night specials – story via Reuters
U.S. regulators closed Security Savings Bank in Henderson, Nevada, and Heritage Community Bank in Glenwood, Illinois, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said on Friday.
Heritage, which had four offices, had total assets of $232.9 million and total deposits of $218.6 million as of Dec. 5, 2008. It will [...]

Naked Capitalism’s Yves Smith was on Fast Money at CNBC yesterday. She made a number of good points regarding the discussion on nationalization. One that particularly resonated with me was her assertion that the United States is nationalizing one, two or three banks every Friday through the FDIC (see list here).

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The FDIC has closed another bank. This time it is FirstBank of Georgia. The bank only had $285 million in deposits, so this was no titan. Regional powerhouse Regions Financial has assumed the deposits, which is positive because last week we saw one case in which the FDIC could not find a [...]