U.S. regulators on Friday closed Palos Bank and Trust Company in Illinois, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said, marking the 110th U.S. bank failure so far this year and the 14th in Illinois.
The FDIC said Palos Bank and Trust Company had $493.4 million in assets. First Midwest Bank of Itasca, Illinois, will assume the deposits of the failed institution.
The bank failure is expected to cost the FDIC’s insurance fund $72 million.
I think this bank’s days were really numbered for quite some time. bankpred.blogspot.com had them as one of the most likely to fail.
Wasn’t this the bank that the Feds were looking into regarding money laundering for terrorists a few years back?
It’s funny too-they kept telling their employees that the rumors were all false. All of their jobs were ok and they were stable too! Nothing to worry about.
GOOD riddance to a bunch of fraudsters and mopes
The bank that was convicted of money laundering for drug dealers is now called Family Bank and Trust. They changed their name. The bank that closed was always mistaken for the money launderers, which didn’t help them stay open.
I’m positive that the Executives of the Palos Bank and Trust were not telling their employees that the rumors were false. For one, the “Cease & Desist” is public knowledge and is published by the FDIC and also, it is illegal and prohibited by the FDIC for any bank executive to comment or hint to any person or employee that the bank is closing for fear of creating a “run on the bank.” Palos Bank & Trust was a very philanthropic organization, that always put the community first, and such a statement is reinforced by their extremely loyal customer base. Unfortunately, Palos Bank succumbed to the difficult economic times and the lack of help from the FDIC and community banks. This is just one of many community banks that will fail in the comming years, due to all the “big box banks” (i.e. Chase and BoA) receiving TARP funds and not the community banks.
well said E.T. couldnt have put it better myself, some of the nicest people i ever met worked at palos bank, sad to see it go.
@banker, what was the original part that was funny? you start us off at the middle of a sentence, “it’s funny too” what was funny first?
@reverend, no this was not the bank that the Feds were looking into regarding money laundering for terrorists a few years back. i did a simple google search and determined that it was actually Family Bank and Trust not Palos Bank and Trust, thank you @Stacey for pointing that out
@John C, some employees have worked at this bank for over 30 years, have a little compassion for them and their families, or i hope perhaps one day complete strangers are mocking something you put your heart and soul into by saying “GOOD Ridance” and making false accusations.
The point is that the government is deciding who lives and fails. I offer a reward of substantial amounts to any one who can provide the true info to these closings. 10 to 1 they illustrate that the purchasing banks who took over were in much worse shape than the seized banks(before the Big Banks got their TARP). Try to get the info, not even the owners of the banks are allowed to view it. The FDIC invents the numbers. Meanwhile, try to get credit as a business person from these banks. There are so many civil rights violations at play here we could shut the government down with the damages. Get me the info and will see who the real fraudsters are. By the way, also get the info for the bonuses handed out to the examiner in charge who closed the bank; bet he’s employee of the year. Grown fat and bloated on small bank blood like a tick. Also, who runs the ratings and the info–the Fed. Small business is doomed in this country. Even the Canadians are going back to Canada!
We’ve been customers for over 31 years. Great people, very involved in the community with the utmost integrity. Never involved with some of the nonsense mentioned above. The employees knew, I’ve personally sat and talked with some of them. It’s all public knowledge. I hope the new owners maintain the ‘feel’ of this community bank and I hope many of the same people employed by Palos Bank are still there for many years to come. Small community banks are getting a raw deal these days. It breaks my heart to see this happen to these wonderful people.
PS. The families that have been enriched by these take-overs are a fraction of the numbers destroyed. MB should now be called More Blood (and the Feigers laugh from their vacation estates) And First Midwest, well I would just reverse the first letters of each word.
How can we, as Americans stand for these kind of Gulag tactics. The small bankers can’t fight b/c the Feds hamstring them with pointless, expensive litigation (lawyers love all this). Surely, if someone can get the true info we can find a lawyer who is not a corporate prostitute and make our own TARP from the damages. Name the examiners for falsifying information and travel up the chain as these petty bureaucrats point fingers at each other. Let us all work on the new American Revolution; save this country for those that actually produce things!
The federal enablers, the miscreant bankers here and on Wall Street (of course only those that participated in this fraud….the list grows by the day) can be found in Circle 8 in Dante’s Inferno….
@bpio The Paetows were arrogant and thought very highly of themselves. This is truly a humbling experience for them. Sure they were a good community bank, but it wasn’t the common person that but them in the hole, it was just a few of the local construction companies. Don’t be fooled by thinking this was about people defaulting on their homes, it was greed, particularly the Westgate development. Jeanes Construction alone owes them over $8 million. Now, Bill Paetow is going to sell his house and move to Florida because he won’t be able handle everyone talking about him (as his wife said). Why isn’t anyone writing about the REAL story?
@PinPalos, your personal feelings towards a family are completely irrelevant to this discussion. I, for one, have grown up with the Paetow family and have a completely different viewpoint than yourself, however I take the mature approach and just state the facts. It is not a shock to anyone that failed banks are caused from business loans and not just a couple of home foreclosures. Palos Bank did nothing different than any other bank during its time; they were simply victims of the FDIC raising their premiums and not being offered TARP.
All I can say is wow; it is so nice to see how everyone can be judge and jury without knowing all the facts. Those that have compassion for the employees thank you and those that do not, you should be ashamed of yourself. Do you realize employees may be reading this – don’t you think they have been tramatized enough? I can hear the response by some that the employees deserve it; I hope that you never experience this kind of trama in your life. God bless to the well wishers.
I know the Paetows. I know some of the executives. I know bankers – a lot of bankers. These were NOT arrogant peaople. They were as good as it gets. Wonderful folks who ran a great community bank and earned a very honest living. I am extremely sad for all those folks as well as the community.
I agree a little bit with everybody. The employees who have worked there for years now have to start out as a new employee and have lost everything. The government is taking over all of our lives and are running us like puppets in their master plan. We have to stand up to this type of corruption and be there for the small businesses and banks backing them instead of talking bad about them. If this was a big box bank it never would have happened. The community lost a great bank and great people. It is time for us to stand up. I will personally be taking my money out and putting it in another family owned community bank. Lets stand up America and take our country back!
Palos’ closure has been noted elsewhere:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/Examiner-Opinion-Zone/US-Bank-failures-needs-more-attention-100795454.html
Hmm. I wonder if some soon-to-be former employees will start talking. Maybe the Paetows wrote some “everything-looks-fine-nothing-to-see-here”-type emails right up to the end.