February 07, 2009

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said County Bank, Merced, Calif., was closed Friday by the California Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the FDIC as its receiver - the ninth bank to be closed by regulators in the U.S. this year.

County bank is located south of Sacramento in California's San Joaquin Valley, which has some of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Westamerica Bank, San Rafael, Calif., to assume all of the deposits of County Bank, the FDIC said in a statement.