Get On My Hype

State and federal regulators seized four more banks Friday, bringing the number of failures so far this year to 26.

At the same point last year, the toll stood at 17 banks. However, the pace of closings accelerated as the year went on, and the total number of failures for 2009 climbed to 140.

The biggest bank to go under this week was Sun American Bank, in Boca Raton, Fla. The Florida Office of Financial Regulation closed Sun American and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver.

The FDIC arranged for First-Citizens Bank & Trust Co., of Raleigh, N.C., to take over the failed bank's 12 branches, its $443.5 million in deposits and $535.7 million in assets.

The FDIC and First-Citizens entered into a loss-sharing agreement on $433 million of those assets. The Sun American deal marked the fourth time in the past eight months that First-Citizens has acquired the remains of a failed bank.

The other banks shut down by regulators Friday were Bank of Illinois, in Normal, Ill.; Centennial Bank, in Ogden, Utah; and Waterfield Bank, in Germantown, Md.

The Illinois Department of Financial Professional Regulation closed Bank of Illinois and appointed the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC stuck a deal with Heartland Bank and Trust, of Bloomington, Ill., to take over its two branches, $198.5 million in deposits and $211.7 in assets.

Heartland agreed to pay a premium of 3.61 percent for the deposits. The FDIC and Heartland will share losses on $166.6 million of Bank of Illinois' assets.

The FDIC was unable to find a buyer for Centennial Bank, which was closed by the Utah Department of Financial Institutions. As a result, it will simply pay out the deposits to customers.

Centennial Bank had $205.1 million in deposits and $215.2 million in assets. The FDIC estimated that $1.8 million of those deposits were not covered by its deposit insurance fund, which protects accounts up to $250,000.

The FDIC also was unable to find a buyer for Waterfield Bank. It created a new, temporary institution, Waterfield Bank FA, to give customers time to access their accounts and move their money to other institutions.

Waterfield took deposits from customers over the Internet, and from 38 affinity groups. At the time of its closing by the Office of Thrift Supervision, it had one branch,  $156.4 million in deposits and $155.6 million in assets.

The temporary bank will remain open until April 5.

The FDIC said this week's four closings would cost its deposit insurance fund an estimated $304.8 million.

Regulators closed 140 banks last year.

Wells Fargo & Co.'s chairman and chief executive received $21.3 million in total compensation last year, more than double the $8.77 million he collected in 2008.

The executive, John G. Stumpf, got $5.6 million in salary and $13.1 million in stock awards, according to the company's proxy filing for its annual shareholders' meeting. Wells Fargo said more than 80 percent of Stumpf's salary was paid in stock rather than cash, under a "salary shares'' mechanism the bank devised in response to restrictions imposed on Wells Fargo by its participation in the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Wells Fargo received $25 billion in public investment through TARP in October 2008, partly to help with its acquisition of struggling Wachovia Corp. It repaid the money last December.

At least three other Wells Fargo executives received more than $10 million each in total compensation.

Howard I. Atkins, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, got $11.6 million in total compensation, including $3.34 million in salary and $6.81 million in stock awards. He also received stock options the company valued at $1.3 million.

Atkins' total compensation was $4.95 million in 2008.

David M. Carroll, senior executive vice president for wealth management, brokerage and retirement services, was paid $14.3 million last year. Carroll joined Wells Fargo's executive team when it acquired Wachovia, his previous employer. He was paid $700,000 in salary in 2009, as well as "non-equity incentive compensation" of $10.9 million and options the company valued at $2.52 million.

Mark C. Oman, senior executive vice president for home and consumer finance, collected $12.7 million in total compensation for 2009. His take included $3.87 million in salary and $7.07 million in stock awards. Oman's total compensation was $3.58 million in 2008.

Wells Fargo had profits of $7.99 billion last year, up from $2.37 billion in 2008, when it posted a $3 billion loss in the final quarter. It said in a press release announcing the results that its earnings for 2009 were reduced by its participation in TARP.

Its stock closed Wednesday at $28.20 a share, up from $10.44 a year earlier. The company's shares hit a low of $7.80 on March 5, 2009.

Wells Fargo's proxy filing reported that 13 members of its board of directors received total compensation of more than $300,000 each last year -- roughly half in cash and the rest in stock awards and options.