Bank of Illinois [Normal, Il] fails; Heartland takes over

  50 regulators from across the country swarmed the bank's uptown Normal headquarters, 200 W. College Ave., as it prepared for its 5 p.m. closing. About an hour later, the telephone was being answered, "Heartland Bank, formerly Bank of Illinois."

Friday's closure capped months of speculation about the 96-year-old bank's future. Questions began when state and federal regulators last year found the bank was undercapitalized as a result of its recession-battered commercial real-estate loan portfolio. The bank had unsuccessfully sought a buyer in hopes of avoiding failure.

The Bank of Illinois had $211.7 million in assets, $198.5 million in deposits and about 45 employees at the end of 2009….Heartland's was one of seven bids submitted for the bank from a group of 394 potential bidders identified by the FDIC,

The failure cost the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund $53.7 million.

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