Five more US banks are shut down, bringing 2009 tally to 69

Banks in New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, Oklahoma and Illinois were shut, pushing the toll of failed U.S. lenders to 69 this year, amid a 26-year high in unemployment and the worst economic slump since the Great Depression. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named the receiver of the five banks, the regulator said yesterday in e-mailed statements. The seized banks, with total assets of $2.69 billion and deposits of $2.56 billion, will cost the FDIC's insurance fund about $911.7 million. Mutual Bank of Harvey, Illinois, was the biggest of yesterday's failures, with $1.6 billion in assets and the same amount in deposits. Peoples Community Bank in West Chester, Ohio, was second, with $705.8 million in assets and $598.2 million in deposits. Also shuttered were New Jersey's First BankAmericano, Integrity Bank in Florida and First State Bank of Altus, Oklahoma. Regulators are closing lenders at the fastest pace in 17 years, depleting the FDIC's deposit insurance fund by more than $14.4 billion since January. The FDIC is offering to share losses with buyers of assets from failed banks, reviving a practice followed during the collapse of the savings-and-loan industry in the late 1980s.