Idaho saw its first bank failure in nearly five years. Meanwhile, a mortgage banking subsidiary of another financial institution is blaming the current regulatory environment for its decision to exit wholesale lending.
Syringa Bank was closed on Friday by the Idaho Department of Finance, the regulator said in a news release.
It was the first bank failure in Idaho since April 2009, when First Bank of Idaho, FSB, was shuttered.
The state regulator explained that capital at the Boise, Idaho-based bank had been depleted as a result of large loan losses mostly from real estate lending. The bank’s board of directors had diligently worked for a long period of time to address the problems but were unable to overcome steep price declines in Idaho real estate prices that started in 2007.
“The board of directors and management have cooperated fully with the regulators during these difficult developments, and I am grateful to them for their efforts,” Idaho Department of Finance Director Gavin Gee said in a written statement. “This closure is taking place through a regulatory consent process, with the full cooperation of the bank.”
Syringa Bank was established in 1997. As of Sept. 30, 2013, it employed 60 people.
The failed firm owned $25 million in home loans, $68 million in commercial mortgages and $3 million in construction-and-land-development loans.
Parent Syringa Bancorp entered a written agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in April 2011, while the bank itself was hit with a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. cease-and-desist order in August 2010.
Idaho’s Department of Finance appointed the FDIC as receiver. Following a secret bidding process, the FDIC named the winning bidder as Sunwest Bank, which assumed all of Syringa Bank’s $145 million in total deposits for an 0.75 percent premium and acquired all of its $153 million in total assets.
Syringa Bank was the third FDIC-insured bank failure so far in 2014.
The Rob Chrisman Daily News & Commentary newsletter indicated that Mortgage Services III LLC is exiting wholesale lending.
“After much discussion, research and deliberation, Mortgage Services III (MSI) has decided to exit the Wholesale Mortgage Broker and Non-Regulated Financial Institution Correspondent mortgage business,” MSI was quoted as saying in notice to its clients. “Additionally, MSI will no longer offer Delegated Underwriting Authority for Correspondent business.
“The existing regulatory environment would force us to use too many valuable resources to remain competitive in the wholesale environment.”
The Bloomington, Ill.-based lender, a subsidiary of First State Bank, was unable to provide a formal statement to Mortgage Daily.
MSI reported that it closed 18,000 loans for $3.2 billion in 2009.
MSI was the second non-bank lender to close shop this year.
In all, Mortgage Daily has tracked the failure or closing of six mortgage-related businesses so far during 2014.
