Regulators have shut California National Bank of Los Angeles and eight smaller related banks as the weak economy continues to produce a stream of loan defaults. The banks closed yesterday by the FDIC were in California, Illinois, Texas and Arizona. They were divisions of privately held FBOP Corp., a bank holding company based in Oak Park., Ill.
US Bank in Minneapolis, a division of US Bancorp, agreed to assume the deposits and most of the assets of the banks, which will reopen as US Bank branches today. The closings boost the number of failed US banks this year to 115. In 1989, during the savings-and-loan crisis, the FDIC closed 534 banks, or about 10 a week. (More banks stories.)