Bank of Clark County's uninsured deposits smaller than first feared

VANCOUVER, Wash. — A closer look at the books has revealed that losses associated with the Bank of Clark County's failure are not as severe as initially feared.

About 71 individuals or businesses had uninsured deposits of between $8 million and $13 million at the bank when it was seized by the state Department of Financial Institutions on Friday, said Roberta Valdez, ombudsman with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. And after further investigation, those numbers might go down, she said.

Initially, the FDIC estimated that 138 accounts contained $39.3 million in uninsured deposits.

"Those estimates are from before we were able to look at all the records, so we estimated based on the records we had access to," Valdez said.

Between Jan. 13 and when the Bank of Clark County closed at 6 p.m. Friday, customers withdrew $28 million in deposits, which appears to account for much of the drop in uninsured funds.

A closer examination this weekend found that at least $8 million in deposits were uninsured, and another $5 million may not have been insured, Valdez said.

That $5 million was in accounts that held more than $250,000, which is generally the most that the FDIC insures per account. Some accounts that hold more than $250,000 can still be insured, depending on how they are structured, and the FDIC needs to dig deeper to determine the insurance status of some accounts.

"Some account owners need to provide us additional documentation to demonstrate additional insurance," Valdez said.

Those with funds above the insured limits may lose some of their money, depending on the return FDIC receives as it dismantles the Bank of Clark County's assets.

The FDIC will mail a receiver certificate to former Bank of Clark County customers with uninsured funds. This certificate entitles them to share proportionately in any funds recovered through the disposal of the assets of Bank of Clark County.

Uninsured depositors must be paid in full before the bank's former shareholders or any other creditors.

The FDIC is scheduling interviews with uninsured depositors to fully brief them on their situations. Call 800-822-9247 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. to schedule an appointment.

Roseburg, Ore.-based Umpqua Bank purchased the Bank of Clark County's insured deposits and assets and reopened the failed bank's two formers branches on Tuesday as Umpqua Bank branches.