Colorado bank closes shop

New Frontier Bank, one of Colorado state's biggest banks, was closed down by state regulators Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said in a statement.

Based in Greeley, Colorado, New Frontier had, as of March 24, total assets of two billion dollars and and total deposits of about 1.5 billion, the FDIC said.It was the 23rd bank closed to business since January. Until New Frontier, the bigges bank failure this year had been California's Merced Bank, with 1.7 billion in assets.

Unable to have a rival bank take charge of New Frontier's credits and deposits, the FDIC said it "created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Greeley (DINB), which will remain open for approximately 30 days to allow depositors time to open accounts at other insured institutions."

New Frontier's failure will cost the FDIC around 670 million dollars.

After suffering no bank failures at all in 2005 and 2006, the US banking system saw three banks going under in 2007, followed by 25 in 2008 and 23 so far this year.

(AFP)