City Bank takes over failed Imperial Capital
Federal regulators close loss-battered institution, no depositors will lose money
Los Angeles : Federal regulators closed loss-battered Imperial Capital Bank of La Jolla on Friday and turned its remains over to City National Bank of Los Angeles, which will take over Imperial's $2.2 billion (Dh8.07 billion) in deposits.
Imperial Capital's nine branches — six in California, one in Baltimore, one in Carson City, Nevada and one in Las Vegas — will reopen tomorrow as City National offices, according to the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corp. No depositors will lose money.
The failure brought to 138 the number of US banks that have failed in 2009, including 15 in California, as loans made during the lending boom earlier this decade have soured.
City National, which recently moved its headquarters from Beverly Hills to Los Angeles, serves mostly wealthy individuals and small businesses. It has remained well-capitalised despite recent losses on construction and commercial lending.
Imperial Capital, with $4 billion in assets, failed to meet a December 14 deadline set by state regulators to raise $200 million in capital. It had lost $112 million in the first three quarters of this year.
City National will take on about $3.4 billion of Imperial Capital's assets, sharing losses on most of them with the FDIC.
The FDIC will keep the remainder of Imperial Capital's assets.
Good fit
"Imperial Capital Bank is a very good fit for City National, given that eight of its nine locations are in communities we serve," said Russell Goldsmith, chief executive of the bank and its parent company, City National Corp, in a statement.
Earlier Friday, regulators closed four banks in other states, these included New South Federal Savings Bank of Irondale, Alabama, with Beal Bank of Plano, Texas, taking over all of the failed bank's deposits. The Office of Thrift Supervision shut down the bank. It also closed People's First Community Bank of Panama City, Florida; Hancock Bank of Gulfport, Mississippi, assumed all of those deposits.
— Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service
