Two New Banks Fail, Raising National Tally to 92

Two banks went under over the weekend, interrupting a failure-free last two weeks and raising the national tally to 92 for the year ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô a number in line with earlier forecasts from the FDIC as the New Year approaches.

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Phoenix, Arizona-based Western National Bank and Panama City, Florida-based Premier Community Bank each shuttered their doors, with regulators appointing the ""FDIC"":http://www.fdic.gov/ to serve in its traditional role of receiver.

The ""Office of the Comptroller of the Currency"":http://www.occ.gov/topics/consumer-protection/index-consumer-protection.html closed Western National with approximately $162.9 million in total assets and $144.5 million in total deposits.

Seattle-based ""Washington Federal"":http://www.washingtonfederal.com/home.aspx sopped up the mess by agreeing to purchase ""essentially all the deposits,"" according

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to a FDIC statement. Three branches under Western National also transferred to the Washington Federal brand Monday.

""We wish to extend the warmest welcome to the customers of the former Western National Bank,"" Roy Whitehead, chairman and president of Washington Federal, said in a ""statement"":http://www.washingtonfederal.com/getattachment/1b75ab07-c4c5-4f6e-8a0e-277c8e69bc5f/.aspx, adding that it is ""not new to Arizona. We currently have 21 branches in the state, including 13 in the Phoenix area.

""Depositors can rest assured that their funds are not at risk,"" he added.

Florida state regulators meanwhile closed Crestview, Florida-based Premier Community Bank, which fell under with $126 million in total assets and $112.1 million in total deposits.

Panama City-based ""Summit Bank"":http://summitbankna.com/ swooped in to collect essentially all assets, including two branches that reopened Monday under its management.

Both bank failures cost the FDIC's insurance fund a combined $68.8 million.

Greg Hernandez, a spokesperson for the FDIC, told _MReport_ for a past story that the agency foresaw fewer failures taking place in 2011, compared with 157 seen in 2010.

He attributed the decline to better portfolio management practices for financial institutions and a slow, albeit steady pace for the U.S. economic recovery.