Regulators shut down First Bank

Regulators shut down the First Bank of Beverly Hills on Friday, saying they could find no buyer for the one-branch institution after a takeover by an Illinois financial firm fell through.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it would send checks to insured depositors of the bank, which despite its name had been based in Calabasas.

At year-end, the bank had about $1 billion in deposits, many of them from out of state, of which an estimated $179,000 were uninsured.

First Bank of Beverly Hills, a commercial lender beaten up by California’s real estate downturn, also had $1.5 billion in loans and other assets, which will be taken over by the FDIC.

The agency estimated that the bank’s collapse would cost the federal deposit insurance fund $349 million.

The bank’s parent, Beverly Hills Bancorp, said in a news release last week that its agreement to be taken over by Orchard First Source Asset Management, a privately held specialist in buyouts and restructurings, “has been terminated.” Bank officials didn’t return calls seeking elaboration.

Information about the takeover, including explanations of what depositors and loan customers should expect, may be read online at www.fdic.gov.

First Bank of Beverly Hills was among 29 banks in the country to fail this year, four of them in California.

Three other bank failures occurred Friday: Michigan Heritage Bank, whose three offices will reopen as part of Level One Bank of Farmington Hills, Mich.; American Southern Bank of Kennesaw, Ga., whose single branch will reopen as an office of Bank of North Georgia; and First Bank of Idaho, a Ketchum savings bank whose seven offices will reopen on Monday as branches of U.S. Bank.

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scott.reckard@latimes.com