Dive Brief:

• The Santa Anna National Bank in Santa Anna, Texas, on Friday became the second bank to fail this year, after it was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. 
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was appointed receiver of the failed bank, entered into an agreement with Coleman County State Bank of Coleman, Texas, to assume all of Santa Anna’s insured deposits and some of its assets.
• “Suspected fraud” contributed to the single-branch bank’s failure and $23.7 million estimated cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund, the FDIC said. That estimate is likely to change as assets are sold, the regulator said.

Dive Insight:

Santa Anna, established in 1933, had $76.9 million in assets and $71.4 million in deposits as of mid-April. By June 18, those figures at the central Texas lender had dropped to $63.8 million in assets and $53.8 million in deposits, the FDIC said. 

The OCC took action after finding the bank had experienced “substantial dissipation of assets and earnings due to unsafe or unsound practices,” the regulator said in its release. The OCC also determined the bank was in an unsafe or unsound condition to transact business, and its assets were less than its obligations to its creditors and others. 

About $2.8 million of Santa Anna’s deposits exceeded FDIC insurance limits, the regulator said. That amount is likely to change once the agency learns more from customers, and the FDIC will then consider whether to provide uninsured depositors access to a portion of their uninsured funds.

Santa Anna’s single office reopens Monday as a branch of neighboring Coleman County State Bank, with Santa Anna’s depositors becoming Coleman County State Bank customers, the FDIC said. Coleman County State Bank, established in 1936, purchased Santa Anna’s insured deposits for a 5.16% premium, and the FDIC will keep a large portion of Santa Anna’s assets for later disposition. 

Coleman has six locations in Texas and had $221.1 million in assets as of late April.

“CCSB is excited to welcome the staff of SANB, and we look forward to continue meeting the banking needs of its current customers,” Coleman County State Bank CEO Reave Scott said in a message to customers on the bank’s website. “Our dedication to Santa Anna and its surrounding areas remains as steadfast as our long-standing commitment to strengthening the communities of Coleman, Abilene, and recently San Angelo.”

Coleman didn’t immediately respond to a question on the number of Santa Anna employees joining the acquirer.

The first bank to fail this year was Chicago-based Pulaski Savings Bank, in January. Millennium Bank of Des Plaines, Illinois, agreed to purchase Pulaski’s $42.7 million in deposits and about $45 million of its assets. The FDIC had also noted “suspected fraud” with Pulaski’s failure, which resulted in an estimated $28 million hit to the DIF. 

The FDIC’s Office of Inspector General determined Pulaski had $20.7 million unaccounted for in its core system, resulting in the lender becoming “critically undercapitalized,” according to a report released this month.