A 123-year old financial institution that was able to weather the Great Depression was unable to survive the Great Recession.
Fayette County Bank was originally established on Jan. 1, 1894. It is located in Saint Elmo, Illinois, a town near the midpoint between Indianapolis and St. Louis.
Although the bank was able to stay in business for over a century, it came under the scrutiny of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation – Division of Banking.
The state regulator issued
a consent order in 2014 against Fayette County Bank.
The order called for new management — including a chief executive officer — with experience with distressed bank portfolios.
But the bank apparently didn’t do enough.
On Friday, the state banking regulator closed down Fayette County Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed conservator.
As of March 31, there were $34 million in total assets on the failed bank’s balance sheet. The total included
$14 million in single-family loans and $4 million in commercial real estate loans.
Just 10 people were on the payroll of
Fayette County Bank as of March 31.
United Fidelity Bank of Evansville, Indiana, agreed to assume all of Fayette County Bank’s $34 million in deposits and buy $29 million of its assets.
The cost to the FDIC of the bank’s demise, the sixth so far this year, is estimated at $10 million.
Mortgage Daily has tracked the closing or failure of 12 mortgage-related businesses so far during 2017.
