West Chicago Bank Bank Is First Failure of 2014

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Problem Bank List on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014, announced that the Office of the Comptroller has closed the 123-year-old DuPage National Bank in West Chicago.

The closure came Friday, Jan. 17, and marks the nation’s first bank closing of the year. The FDIC maintains the Problem Bank List. The closure cost the FDIC $1.6 million.

According to the Problem Bank List, the FDIC acted as receiver and to protect depositors when  it sold the bank to Oak Brook-based Republic Bank of Chicago.

According to the Problem Bank List, DuPage National was a small bank with just $61.7 million in assets as of Sept. 30, and deposits totaling $59.6 million. The bank was established in 1891 and had survived the Great Depression and two world wars. But the Problem Bank List states that bad loans are what finally caused DuPage National to collapse.

The Problem Bank List states that all three branches of DuPage National Bank will reopen as Republic Bank of Chicago branches. Further, all DuPage National’s depositors automatically become depositors of Republic Bank. The move ensures uninterrupted FDIC deposit insurance up to the applicable limits.

The Problem Bank List post states that depositors of DuPage can access their money this weekend through ATMs, debit cards and checks.

Republic Bank agreed to pay the FDIC a 1.2 percent premium to assume DuPage bank’s deposits, and to purchase all the bank’s assets.

According to the Problem Bank List, the last bank failure in Illinois was Covenant Bank, Chicago, in February 2013.