FINANCIAL MARKET MELTDOWN COMES TO WV

(09/20/2008)

The trillion dollar meltdown of USA financial markets has come to West Virginia. Federal regulators have shut down Ameribank Inc., a small West Virginia bank, saying it overextended loans for "the rehabilitation of distressed properties." It was the 12th failure this year of a federally insured bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has been appointed as receiver for the bank in Northfork (McDowell County) WV. It had $115 million in assets and $102 million in deposits as of June 30. The FDIC said Friday the bank's insured deposits will be assumed by Pioneer Community Bank Inc. of Iaeger and Citizens Savings Bank in Martins Ferry, Ohio. WV's United Bank's corporate parent expects third-quarter earnings to be hurt by the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers. Charleston-based United Bankshares says in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing today that it owns a $10 million Lehman Brothers bond and expects to take a non-cash impairment charge in the quarter. United says the bond amounts to about 0.125 percent of its $8 billion in assets. While the WV bank is just a small collapse, the worst is yet to come for American taxpayers, who are now footing the bill for bolstering free market financial institutions, provided China will loan the US government some cash.

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