US state and federal regulators shut four small banks in the South and Midwest on Friday, bringing the total number of closures this year to 28. State Regulators closed Waccamaw Bank of Whiteville, North Carolina. The bank's $472.7 million in deposits will be assumed by First Community Bank of Bluefield, Virginia, which will take over the North Carolina bank's 16 branches.
First Community has agreed to purchase most of the failed bank's $533.1 million in total assets. Federal Regulators closed the Carolina Federal Savings Bank of Charleston, South Carolina. That bank's two branches will open on Monday as part of Bank of North Carolina (BNC). BNC has agreed to assume all of the failed bank's deposits, which total roughly $53.1 million and some of its $54.4 million in assets. State regulators shut down First Capital Bank of Kingfisher, Oklahoma. That bank's $44.8 million in deposits and a portion of its $46.1 million in total assets will be assumed by F & M Bank, of Edmond, Oklahoma.
State regulators also closed Farmers and Traders State Bank of Shabbona, Illinois. That bank's two branches will reopen as part of First State Bank, which has agreed to take on the failed bank's $42.3 million in total deposits and purchase essentially all its $43.1 million in total assets. The pace of bank failures has slowed from the highs of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
In 2010, 157 banks with $92.1 billion in total assets failed, while 92 institutions with $34.9 billion in total assets were closed in 2011. The pace of failures is expected to slow significantly again this year. Earlier this year, FDIC acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg said his agency expects a total of 50 to 60 banks to be closed this year. Smaller banks, particularly those with less than $1 billion in assets, have made up the majority of closures the past few years. Many of these community banks have been hit hard due to their exposure to the troubled commercial real estate market.