Worth noting this bank is an order of magnitude off of the 250th biggest bank in the US. It’s actually small enough that it’s hard to figure out where in the ~4K US banks it is, but it’s in the backend.
Also, this year is still small on the “number of failed banks” list. Banks fail fairly often and this one failing would be no news normally.
For this reason, this is actually big news. Small banks are the back bone of the US financial system. They are conservative where big ones are not. They are historically the ones that keep afloat.
Too early to call, but this might be a signal of things to come.
Small banks are less regulated than large ones, as a result of lobby from them to loosen the rules so that they can eek out some profits using less-conservative strategies. They also tend to serve localized and correlated customers, so local events can have an outsized impact on them, versus big banks that are widely diversified.
The bank that acquires does so with a haircut and a hit to the balance sheet from the overall entity having all the liabilities of the combination and the assets. So the insurer throws in some money to recapitalize. Remember everyone needs this deal to be smooth and the new entity toppling is not smooth.
> The FDIC and Dream First Bank, National Association, are also entering into a commercial shared-loss agreement on the loans it purchased of the former Heartland Tri-State Bank.
Sounds like they had some bad loans on the books, smaller banks in rural communities often struggle to adequately assess loan risk because talent is hard to find.
Rural people, whatever that means, can be smart and crafty. And there should be a risk management committee and there are services to help provide insights. I was on a rural BoD and don't recall ever seeing a crop loan.
I have a relative who was an FDIC auditor and spent the last 10 years assessing commercial loan portfolios as a consultant for hundreds of small banks across the south and Midwest. Most banks had at least a few loans that were poorly underwritten (insufficient income verification, collateral declaration, improper property comps, etc.) She had some crazy stories though.
A rural bank gave out one of its largest loans, a few million, to a guy to build a crypto farm 3-4 years ago. She called me up during the crypto crash asking for advice on how to price all of these GPUs he bought at the top of the market since he was facing liquidation. The bank took a bath on it. And that was just one of many. Tons of PPP fraud, small Town corruption, etc.
Another problem is the cash flow that can be generated from farmland varies wildly. You might lease it out for $100 an acre, On the other hand you might be making $5,000 an acre if you're farming something specialized.
Crop insurance isn't an economically viable thing for any of the small farmers that I personally know anymore. It might still be feasible if you qualify for the beginner subsidies.
I think the most obvious explanation is that this bank may be another victim of the "sudden" rise in interest rates we're seeing in the last couple of years. This time it was 300 million in assets plus deposits, and the FDIC allegedly will lose 50 million on the rescue operation. The US have thousands of banks of similar size to this one. May be down the road the number of 50 million losses will become unbearable, who knows.
FDIC can surcharge remaining banks through their assessments (FDIC insurance premiums). It’s a broadly distributed tax on bank customers in aggregate. So long as US banking exists, there will be banks to charge to keep the fund solvent.
They just need to kick the can long enough to give impairments caused by rapid rate increases time to burn off.
And what happens if these impairments start to gradually become more and more realized losses, as their due dates come? I can't see the FED making a 180 anytime soon, in fact I've been buying treasuries for the most part. Everybody in the world may want (and need) lower rates, but it's like fighting against the sunrise, if it's time for it it's time and that's it. What will happen when it's not Heartland Bank from Bumf*ck Arkansas that is going under from betting on the wrong macroeconomic path, but let's say, Bank of America? Would the other banks have the cash to bail this one out? Or will the FED in the end have to print piles and piles of colored paper, raising inflation and then having to raise rates, bla bla bla. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the next few years.
In many of these bank failures, the problem has been that they are holding very safe loans at an interest rate that is too low for today's environment. In practice, if they are allowed to survive until the loans mature, they will get all the principal back, so there won't be a realized loss there. Unfortunately, the rate is so low that if you need to sell the loan today it will be at a substantial discount to face value.
The losses that the banks would actually realize are that the cost of deposits have gone up: People want a higher interest rate on their deposits. If they don't get that rate, people pull their deposits, and banks aren't allowed to hold their safe loans to maturity because they need cash now.
Historically, rising rates have been good for banks because deposits are sticky and the banks can raise their customers' interest rates more slowly than they raise the rates on the loans they make. It seems that customers are more fickle now, and many banks weren't prepared for that.
My naive, and cynical, understanding of this type of policy, is the point is to kick the can down to the next generation. It didn't start this way (I hope), but I view it as an accepted solution to make sure the bomb's timer is my_age+1yr.
Silicon Valley Bank marked their debt to maturity, until they ran out of liquidity and were shut down. But rising rates does not affect fixed rate loans.
Also, this year is still small on the “number of failed banks” list. Banks fail fairly often and this one failing would be no news normally.