Bank seized by regulators

Regulators on Friday seized a $52 million-asset bank in Carson City because the institution had inadequate capital and growing loan losses.

In a statement, Financial Institutions Division Commissioner George Burns announced that Heritage Bank of Reno will take all the deposits of Carson River Community Bank. He appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver.

Heritage agreed to purchase $38 million of Carson River's assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets.

The FDIC and Heritage signed a loss-share agreement on $28.5 million of the assets, which will minimize disruptions for customers with loans from Carson River.

"Especially with the economic instability we are experiencing today, our goal is always to protect depositors while minimizing the disruption to business and preserving jobs as much as possible," Burns said. "We are committed to making sure Nevada's banking system continues to be fundamentally safe and sound."

The 3-year-old institution is the sixth Nevada bank to fail since the collapse of First National Bank in July 2008. Carson River is the 21st FDIC-insured bank to fail this year nationally.

The failure of Carson River will cost the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund an estimated
$7.9 million.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at
jedwards@reviewjournal.com
or 702-383-0420.