Waterfield family bank shut down

Malaysia News.Net
Friday 5th March, 2010

Waterfield Bank, Germantown, Maryland, has been shuttered by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on Friday as receiver.

Waterfield Bank was a recent addition to the century-old Waterfield family tradition of financial institutions. Waterfield Group is one of the largest private financial services organizations in the U.S., Other Waterfield Family Companies include American Partners Bank, Waterfield Mortgage, Waterfield Technologies, Waterfield Capital, Waterfield Financial Services, Affinity Financial Corporation, Inc., and Waterfield Enterprises, LLC, a venture capital and merchant banking concern.

The Bank was originally organized by the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) and commenced operations in June of 2000. The Bank was established as a specialty bank to serve the insurance company members of NAMIC, their employees and independent insurance agencies. In January 2008, the Bank was acquired by Affinity Financial Corporation, a Waterfieled family company, and was subsequently re-named Waterfield Bank.

Waterfield Bank had banking services and operations in Carmel, Indiana; branch locations in the Washington DC Metro-area; mortgage loan production offices in Florida, Maryland and New Jersey; with its administrative headquarters located in Bethesda, Maryland. The bank had one branch location. It also took deposits from customers through the Internet and 38 affinity groups.

To protect the insured depositors, the FDIC created Waterfield Bank, FA — a new depository institution chartered by the OTS and insured by the FDIC — to take over the operations of Waterfield Bank. The new institution will remain open until April 5, 2010, to allow depositors access to their insured funds and time to move accounts to other insured institutions.

At the time of closing, the receiver immediately transferred to Waterfield Bank, FA, all insured deposits of the failed bank, except certificates of deposits (CDs) and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). The FDIC will mail checks directly to customers with CDs and IRAs for the amount of their insured funds, on Monday morning, March 8.

Customers with savings accounts, checking accounts and money market deposit accounts will have access to their insured funds as usual during this transitional period, the FDIC stated on Friday evening. Banking activities, such as direct deposit, check writing, and ATM and debit card use, will continue as normal for the customers with demand deposit accounts until Waterfield Bank, FA, closes on April 5. At the end of this transition period, the FDIC will mail checks to customers who have not closed their accounts or transferred their funds to another institution, the FDIC statement disclosed.

Online banking services, including bill pay, will be unavailable for transactions over the weekend; however, these systems will be active by Monday morning.

As of December 31, 2009, Waterfield Bank had $155.6 million in assets and $156.4 million in deposits. At the time of closing, the amount of deposits exceeding the insurance limits totaled about $407,000. This amount is an estimate and is likely to change as the FDIC works with customers of Waterfield Bank. The uninsured deposits were not transferred to the newly chartered institution.

Depositors with more than $250,000 at Waterfield Bank should call the FDIC at (800) 830-4735 to make an appointment to discuss the status of their funds. The phone number will be operational Friday night until 11:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., EST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., EST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., EST.

Customers who would like more information about Friday's transactionevents can call the toll-free number; send an e-mail to waterfieldbankquestions@fdic.gov; or visit the FDIC's Web site at: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/waterfield.html.

Under the FDI Act, the FDIC may create a new depository institution to ensure that depositors have continued access to their insured funds where no other bank has agreed to assume the insured deposits. This arrangement allows for uninterrupted direct deposits and automated payments from customers' accounts and allows them time to find another institution with which to do business.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to its Deposit Insurance Fund will be $51.0 million. Waterfield Bank is the first bank to fail in this year in Maryland. The last FDIC-insured institution to fail in the state was Bradford Bank, Baltimore, on August 28, 2009.

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