06 May 2010

Michigan, Feds set up Takeover of 22-Branch CF Bancorp

The Detroit News
After state's second bank failure of the year, offices will be open today as First Michigan

Michigan's second bank failure of the year came Friday evening, when state and federal regulators arranged a takeover of 22-branch CF Bancorp in Port Huron by First Michigan Bank of Troy.

Metro Detroit branches and other CF Bancorp offices will be open for business as usual today as branches of First Michigan. CF Bancorp customers will automatically become customers of First Michigan and can continue to write checks, use their debit cards and access ATMs. Checks drawn on CF Bancorp will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual, officials said.

CF Bancorp was owned by Citizens First Bancorp Inc. and was headquartered in Port Huron. It operated 22 branches in Port Huron, Marysville, St. Clair, Algonac, Lapeer, Farmington, Farmington Hills, West Bloomfield, Croswell, Lexington, Sandusky, Fort Gratiot, Kimball, Marine City, Chesterfield, Shelby Township, Imlay City, Bad Axe and Harbor Beach. The bank opened in 1937.

CF Bancorp's mortgage subsidiary and about $262 million in private label securities are being retained by the FDIC for sale. First Michigan also did not acquire CF Bancorp's Federal Home Loan Bank stock.

For the third and fourth quarters of 2009, CF Bancorp received the lowest rating possible from BauerFinancial Inc.: zero stars. The bank reported losses to the FDIC of $118 million and $13.6 million for the past two years, the rating service said.

Last month, regulators seized and closed Lakeside Community Bank in Sterling Heights. That followed the failure of four state banks last year.

A total of 140 banks failed in the United States last year, and the chairwoman of the FDIC expects at least that many to go broke this year. Sixty-two already have gone under, including four in addition to CF Bancorp on Friday.

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