Three First Community Bank branches in Arizona are now part of U.S. Bank

Three First Community Bank branches in Arizona have opened as U.S. Bank offices, after a failure in New Mexico last week.

U.S. Bank bought the operations after New Mexico regulators closed First Community, a subsidiary of First State Bancorporation, Jan. 28.

The FDIC entered into the agreement with U.S. Bank, which receives $2.1 billion of assets and assumes $2.1 billion of liabilities, including $1.8 billion of deposits.


The transition "couldn't have gone smoother," said Steve Dale, a U.S. Bank spokesman in Minneapolis, commenting on the opening under new ownership yesterday.

The three branches - two in Phoenix and one in Sun City - likely will operate under First Community signs until the third quarter, Dale said, adding that U.S. Bank plans to retain the former First Community employees.

"When you acquire branches, you need someone to run them," he said.

U.S. Bank had 78 branches in Arizona prior to the transaction. The purchase includes 35 First Community branches in New Mexico, which becomes a new state in the U.S. Bank network.

U.S. Bank said it bought the assets for a discount of $380 million.

The nation's fifth-largest commercial bank counted $961 million in deposits in Arizona for a 1.12 percent market share as of midyear. First Community had $166 million for a 0.19 percent share.

The FDIC estimates the failure will cost its Deposit Insurance Fund $260 million. First Community was the 11th bank failure in 2011.

by Russ Wiles The Arizona Republic Jan. 31, 2011 04:58 PM







Three First Community Bank branches in Arizona are now part of U.S. Bank