Five U.S. banks seized by regulators

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Struggling banks in five U.S. states have been seized by regulators, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation says.

Institutions in Florida, Missouri, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington were shuttered Friday amid the weak economy and defaulting loans, the FDIC said. The moves bring the total number of failures this year to nine, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The newspaper said the two of the five banks were large enough to carry assets of more than $1 billion, including the Florida bank, which it reported was sold to an investment group including former North Fork Bancorp Chief Financial Officer Dan Healy, while Texas billionaire Andrew McBeal reportedly got the deposits and assets of the shuttered New Mexico bank.

The seized Oregon bank was the 21-branch Columbia River Bank of The Dalles, the FDIC said. The agency said it had entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Columbia State Bank of Tacoma, Wash., to assume all of the deposits of Columbia River Bank, which had approximately $1.1 billion in total assets and $1 billion in total deposits.

Also seized were Evergreen Bank of Seattle and The Bank of Leeton, Leeton, Mo.