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Bank closing is 1st in Pa. this year

The five branches of Allegiance of Bala Cynwyd are to become VIST branches. Across the U.S., 149 have shut.

State and federal regulators Friday closed Allegiance Bank of North America, of Bala Cynwyd, making it the first bank in Pennsylvania to fail this year and the second in the region.

The Pennsylvania Department of Banking has appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver.

The FDIC has, in turn, entered into an agreement with VIST Bank, of Wyomissing, to assume Allegiance Bank's $92 million in deposits and virtually all of its $106.6 million in assets. VIST Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of 0.50 percent to assume all of the deposits of Allegiance Bank, according to FDIC spokesman David Barr.

The five branches of Allegiance Bank are expected to reopen Monday as VIST branches.

Over the weekend, Allegiance Bank customers should not encounter problems in accessing their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

Allegiance Bank is the 148th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the United States this year.

In this region, it follows the Sept. 17 failure of ISN Bank of Cherry Hill. That bank, done in by defaults on its commercial real estate loans, has reopened as Customers Bank, part of Phoenixville-based New Century Bank.

Also on Friday, regulators closed Gulf State Community Bank of Carrabelle, Fla. As of Sept. 30, Gulf State Community Bank had about $112.1 million in assets and $112.2 million in deposits. Gulf State Community's five branches were to open Saturday as part of Centennial Bank of Conway, Ark.

Regulators later in the evening closed First Banking Center, of Burlington, Wis., making that the 149th failure this year. First Banking Center had $750.7 million in assets and $664.8 million in deposits.