Regulators on Friday shut down six U.S. banks, taking the total number of bank closures in the year to 130. The banks closed on Friday include AmTrust Bank in Ohio, which is the fourth-largest bank to fail this year.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, said it took over AmTrust Bank, based in Cleveland, with about $12 billion in assets and approximately $8 billion in deposits.
The family-owned AmTrust had been in trouble for more than a year following its aggressive foray into mortgage and construction lending. The bank's failure is expected to cost the federal deposit insurance fund about $2 billion.
New York Community Bancorp Inc., Westbury, New York, will acquire AmTrust and its 66 branches. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, New York Community Bank has agreed to purchase approximately $9.0 billion in assets of AmTrust Bank. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition.
Last fall, AmTrust' primary regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision or OTS, had rejected the bank's requests for aid through the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. AmTrust operated under OTS' approved risk reduction plan since the start of 2009, but the bank was unable to comply with the minimum capital requirements.
Attempts to find an investor to recapitalize the bank, which was first established in 1889 as The Ohio Savings and Loan Company, were unsuccessful.
The FDIC also seized three Georgia banks on Friday - Buckhead Community Bank in Atlanta, First Security National Bank in Norcross, and Tattnall Bank in Reidsville. State Bank and Trust Company, Macon, Georgia, will assume all of the deposits of First Security National Bank and Buckhead Community Bank, while HeritageBank of the South, Albany, Georgia, will assume all of the deposits of Tattnall Bank.
THE FDIC also said it closed Benchmark Bank, based in Aurora, Illinois, and entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with MB Financial Bank, National Association, Chicago Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Benchmark Bank.
Greater Atlantic Bank of Reston, Virginia was also shuttered by the regulators. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Sonabank, McLean, Virginia, to assume all of the deposits of Greater Atlantic Bank.
A total of 130 lenders have collapsed in 2009, the highest number of failures since 1992 as regulators have intensified their push to rid the industry of weak financial institutions. The number of failed banks in 1992 were 179.
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December 19, 2025 15:10 ET U.S. inflation data and interest rate decisions by major central banks were the highlights of this busy week for economics news flow. Employment data and survey results on the housing markets also gained attention in the U.S. In Europe, the European Central Bank and Bank of England announced their policy decisions and macroeconomic projections.