2010 U.S. bank failures now 125

NEW YORK, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Federal regulators have seized six banks in the Southeast, Midwest and Northeast, bringing the number of failed U.S. banks this year to 125, officials said.

Three of the seizures were in Georgia, which has had 45 bank failures since 2007, the most of any state since the recession began in December 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported. Fourteen Georgia banks have failed so far this year.

The failed Georgia banks are the Bank of Ellijay, First Commerce Community Bank, and Peoples Bank. Community & Southern Bank of Carrollton, Ga., assumed deposits at the three failed banks.

Community & Southern Bank also agreed to purchase most of the failed bank's assets, and agreed to share losses of about $602 million with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the newspaper said.

All the banks were seized Friday. The other three failed banks were the ISN Bank in New Jersey, the Bramble Savings Bank in Ohio, and the Maritime Savings Bank in Wisconsin.

More than 1,000 banks failed in the savings and loan crisis of 1987 to 1992, and regulators were on pace to shut more banks this year than 2009, when 140 failed, the newspaper said.

Since the recession began in 2007, 293 banks have failed.