Corus Seized in Fourth-Largest Bank Failure This Year

Another big U.S. bank has gone under. The FDIC said late Friday that regulators have shut $7 billion-asset Corus Bank and that MB Financial Bank will purchased its deposits.

The company is the fourth-largest bank to close the year, trailing BankUnited ($12.8 billion in assets), Guaranty Bank ($13 billion) and Colonial Bangroup ($25 billion). MB Financial will assume control of Corus's 11 branches and also acquire some $3 billion in assets.

Corus's collapse comes as no surprise. The company's auditor in April raised concerns about its viability, amid large losses related to commercial real estate loans. The company's CEO and chairman resigned the same month.

The FDIC's deposit insurance fund will pay out $1.7 billion to cover the cost of Corus's failure. Separately, the agency on Friday also shuttered $970 million-asset Venture Bank and $72 million-asset Brickwell Community Bank. A total of 91 banks have failed in 2009, the highest total since 1992, when 181 institutions collapsed.