Weekend Economists: "So much to do, so little done, such things to be." April 20-22, 2012

[Demeter]

1. 7:30 AND ONE BANK DOWN

Fort Lee Federal Savings Bank, FSB, Fort Lee, New Jersey, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Alma Bank, Astoria, New York, to assume all of the deposits of Fort Lee Federal Savings Bank, FSB.

The sole branch of Fort Lee Federal Savings Bank, FSB will reopen on Saturday as a branch of Alma Bank...As of December 31, 2011, Fort Lee Federal Savings Bank, FSB had approximately $51.9 million in total assets and $50.7 million in total deposits. Alma Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of 1.85 percent to assume all of the deposits of Fort Lee Federal Savings Bank, FSB. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Alma Bank agreed to purchase approximately $15.7 million of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $14.0 million. Compared to other alternatives, Alma Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Fort Lee Federal Savings Bank, FSB is the seventeenth FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in New Jersey. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was First State Bank, Cranford, on October 14, 2011.