APRIL 23, 2010 - Chicago - As expected, the FDIC moved into Broadway Bank at closing time. This evening at 6:00, federal regulators secured the bank and began their work to secure a smooth transition as Broadway Bank is absorbed into MB Financial Bank. It will open at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 24 under the new name.
Broadway Bank was just one of seven Illinois banks to be shut down today by federal regulators.
Broadway Bank is (was?) owned by Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias' family. He is running as a Democrat for U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Mark Kirk. Giannoulias has close personal ties to Barack Obama, a former Chicago community agitator who now lives in Washington, D.C. working as a national agitator.
Associated Press reports that "Broadway Bank, which was heavy into real estate loans and lost $75 million last year, had been given until Monday to raise about $85 million in new capital, but the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced at the close of business Friday that Broadway was among four banks, all in Illinois, that had failed." More from AP at The Daily Herald...Workers were already removing "Broadway Bank" signage at 6:15 p.m. They scraped gilded letters from inside the large windows and the front door. Just after 7:00 p.m., the big lighted sign over the sidewalk was draped with a canvas that says "MB Financial Bank."
Many of the major local television news crews were there this evening. Most told me that they would be there most of the night. "Yeah," one glumly told me, "this is an all-nighter. Definitely a live standup for the 10 o'clock broadcast." A handful of bloggers and freelance photographers were also hanging around.
The FDIC regulators were gracious, coming out and answering any questions of media folks and customers alike. One of the regulators, dressed in a navy blue, pin striped suit with a brass "FDIC" lapel pin, told me that bank customers need not worry about their money. The FDIC man said that the ATM machine at the 5960 N. Broadway location was to be shut down for "about an hour," but that Broadway Bank ATMs around Chicago "would not be affected." The hour-long shut down of the branch's ATM was to switch it over to the MB Financial system. (That transition has probably happened between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m.)
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