A Deeper Look At The La Coste Bank Failure, And A Few Questions For Texas Gov. Rick Perry

Earlier today, we noted that four banks had been closed by federal regulators on Friday. One of the banks was La Coste National Bank in La Coste, Texas. That bank had a sole branch, and is reopening today as a branch of the Community National Bank of Hondo, Texas. Community National assumed all of the deposits of La Coste and purchased essentially all of its assets; depositors of La Coste automatically have become depositors of Community National. Moreover, deposits still are insured by the FDIC, customers can continue to use their branch, and even Friday night and over the weekend depositors of La Coste were able to access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards.

La Coste is – was – a small bank, as these things go, with approximately $53.9 million in total assets and $49.3 million in total deposits. The actions taken by federal regulators protect depositors and ensure that residents of La Coste didn’t even feel a slight breeze of change with La Coste’s failure – a failure estimated to cost $3.7 million to the Deposit Insurance Fund.
 
Texas Governor Rick Perry, running for reelection, is all about “fighting intrusive Washington policies” and the Tenth Amendment, “which clearly states the preeminence of states’ rights in the structure of our country.”
 
Governor, were the federal regulators' actions to protect La Coste’s depositors an “intrusive” Washington policy? Were they the type of federal action to which you object? Should the FDIC stay out of Texas, or are the DIF funds used to protect La Coste depositors (and depositors in other Texas banks) OK?
 
Just askin’….