After nearly three months without a failure, another FDIC-insured institution went down last week.
The Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation in Maryland shut down NBRS Financial, based in Rising Sun, appointing FDIC as receiver, according to dual releases from both agencies.
Chartered as a national bank in 1880, NBRS converted to a Maryland charter in 2002. Following the financial crisis of last decade, the bank took years of losses from non-performing assets and was never able to find enough capital to return to sound condition, said Acting Commissioner Gordon Cooley of the state's financial regulation office.
Despite the bank's collapse—Maryland's second so far this year—Cooley said that "the state banking system remains safe and sound."
To protect depositors of the failed institution, FDIC announced a purchase and assumption agreement with Howard Bank, based in Ellicott City, Maryland. In addition to assuming all of NBRS' estimated $183.1 million in deposits, Howard Bank will purchase essentially all of its $188.2 million in total assets. All of NBRS' five branches, including four in Maryland and one in Pennsylvania, have reopened under the Howard Bank name.
"Howard Bank has demonstrated strong leadership, and commitment to the residents of Central Maryland," Cooley said. "Nowhere is this commitment more evident than Howard Bank being the first Maryland-chartered bank to assume deposits and purchase assets of a closed local bank from the FDIC."
FDIC estimates its Deposit Insurance Fund will take a hit of $24.3 million as a result of NBRS' closing.
The latest collapse follows a quiet period after what had been an active summer for FDIC. Last year, the agency announced 24 bank closings, 22 of which had already occurred by this time.