(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

By Becky Yerak | The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is preparing to put about a half a dozen struggling Chicago-area banks out for bid to healthy institutions that might want buy their deposits and assets, people familiar with the process said.

People familiar with the process say the banks include Amcore, Broadway Bank, Lincoln Park Savings, Wheatland, Citizens Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago, and New Century.

It doesn’t mean that the banks are definitely going to get seized, as
many are trying to raise capital on their own.

But all of the banks are under severe financial distress, and short of a
capital raise on their own, they could be acquired by a healthier bank
in an FDIC-assisted deal.

Amcore is based in Rockford, and is the biggest of the lot. It declined to
comment.

Broadway is owned by the family of U.S. Senate candidate Alexi
Giannoulias. Tilden Katz, a spokesman for Broadway Bank, said, “We’re working hard to raise capital and complete a transaction, and this is the first we’ve heard about these unconfirmed rumors.”

The standard deposit insurance is $250,000 per depositor.