WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators seized three of Puerto Rico's largest banks on Friday and sold their deposits to other banks, consolidating the struggling area's financial sector.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said regulators had seized the banking operations of EuroBancshares Inc, R&G Financial Corp and W Holding Co Inc.
The failures will cost the FDIC's insurance fund about $5.3 billion, one of the largest hits during the banking crisis.
Oriental Bank and Trust is assuming the deposits of Eurobank, Scotiabank de Puerto Rico is assuming the deposits of R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico, and Banco Popular of Puerto Rico is assuming the deposits of Westernbank Puerto Rico, the FDIC said.
Deutsche Bank acted as the lead strategic adviser to the FDIC for these deals.
There are ten banks in Puerto Rico, according to the FDIC's website.
Most of Puerto Rico's biggest banks were laid low by an accounting scandal in 2005 and 2006, making them ill-suited to buy the weakest banks on the island. But with a contracting economy and 16 percent unemployment, banks outside Puerto Rico were unlikely to have much interest in gaining exposure to the island.
(Reporting by Karey Wutkowski in Washington and Dan Wilchins in New York; additional reporting by Maria Aspan; Editing by Bernard Orr) Keywords: BANKS/FDIC PUERTORICO (Reuters Messaging: karey.wutkowski.reuters.com@reuters.net; E-mail:karey.wutkowski@reuters.com +1 202 898 8399) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said regulators had seized the banking operations of EuroBancshares Inc, R&G Financial Corp and W Holding Co Inc.
The failures will cost the FDIC's insurance fund about $5.3 billion, one of the largest hits during the banking crisis.
Oriental Bank and Trust is assuming the deposits of Eurobank, Scotiabank de Puerto Rico is assuming the deposits of R-G Premier Bank of Puerto Rico, and Banco Popular of Puerto Rico is assuming the deposits of Westernbank Puerto Rico, the FDIC said.
Deutsche Bank acted as the lead strategic adviser to the FDIC for these deals.
There are ten banks in Puerto Rico, according to the FDIC's website.
Most of Puerto Rico's biggest banks were laid low by an accounting scandal in 2005 and 2006, making them ill-suited to buy the weakest banks on the island. But with a contracting economy and 16 percent unemployment, banks outside Puerto Rico were unlikely to have much interest in gaining exposure to the island.
(Reporting by Karey Wutkowski in Washington and Dan Wilchins in New York; additional reporting by Maria Aspan; Editing by Bernard Orr) Keywords: BANKS/FDIC PUERTORICO (Reuters Messaging: karey.wutkowski.reuters.com@reuters.net; E-mail:karey.wutkowski@reuters.com +1 202 898 8399) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.