U.S. regulators on Friday closed down Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida. Though there are some early signs of economic recovery, bank failures go on growing with rising loan defaults. This takes the total number of bank failures to 124, compared to 25 in 2008 and 3 in 2007. The weak economy continues to weigh heavily on banks with a stream of loan defaults.  As the industry has to tolerate bad loans that were made during the credit explosion, the trouble in the banking system goes even deeper, increasing the possibility of more bank failures. However, the regulators are trying to avoid panic by seizing banks slowly. Also, the slow seizing could be a strategy as it is hard to get buyers for so many failed banks.  Commerce Bank had total assets of $79.7 million and total deposits of about $76.7 million. The failure of Commerce Bank represents ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 3, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: U.S. Bancorp (USB), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), Zions Bancorp (ZION) and SunTrust Banks (STI).

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Here are highlights from Monday’s AnalystBlog:

Bank Failures Zoom to 115

The nine banks had 153 offices, out of which California National Bank had 68 branches. California National Bank was the biggest of FBOP's banks, the nation's 101st largest with assets of $7.1 billion.

Failure of these institutions represents another impact on the Federal

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 20, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: CVB Financial (CVBF), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), U.S. Bancorp (USB) and Zions Bancorp (ZION).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Monday’s AnalystBlog:

U.S. Bank Failures Reach 99 in ‘09

The failure of San Joaquin Bank represents another impact on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) fund for protecting customer accounts as it has been appointed receiver for the bank. The bank failure is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund

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U.S. Bancorp (USB) has signed a deal with BB&T Corp. (BBT) to acquire the latter’s banking operations in Nevada . As per the agreement, U.S. Bank National Association, U.S. Bancorp’s lead bank, will purchase about $800 million in deposits and certain branches of BB&T’s Nevada banking operations.   The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in early 2010. The acquisition involves deposits of those branches that BB&T had recently acquired from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver for Colonial Bank.  The purchase will fortify U.S. Bancorp’s business in Nevada . The company expects this acquisition to meet or exceed the company’s internal rate of return and earnings per share accretion targets.  Last week, US Bancorp has announced that its lead bank, U.S. Bank, has agreed to buy the bond trustee business of First Citizens Bank, a subsidiary of ...

As part of its strategic acquisitions, US Bancorp (USB) has announced on Wednesday that its lead bank, U.S. Bank, has agreed to buy the bond trustee business of First Citizens Bank, a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares Inc. (FCNCA). Post acquisition, U.S. Bank’s corporate trust division will have $2.4 trillion in assets under administration, 725,000 bondholders and over 114,000 client issuances. The purchase will aid in growing its corporate banking and fixed income business in the southeast market. Also it complements the bank’s existing bond trustee business in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Currently, U.S. Bank has 46 corporate trust offices across the country and offers a complete line of trust services. Earlier this week, US Bancorp also announced its acquisition of the mutual fund administration and accounting servicing division of Fiduciary Management, Inc. This division of Fiduciary has over $8 billion in assets ...

The Congressional oversight panel (COP) of the TARP program is just out with its August report (http://cop.senate.gov/documents/cop-081109-report.pdf). In it, it warns: "Treasury‘s choice to pursue direct capital purchases resulted in a notable stabilization of the financial system, and it allowed the write-down of billions of dollars of troubled assets and reserve building. But, it is likely that an overwhelming portion of the troubled assets from last October remain on bank balance sheets today. "If the troubled assets held by banks prove to be worth less than their balance sheets currently indicate, the banks may be required to raise more capital. If the losses are severe enough, some financial institutions may be forced to cease operations. This means that the future performance of the economy and the performance of the underlying loans, as well as the method of valuation of the assets, are critical to the continued ...