Malta National Bank - Malta, Ohio Bank Gagal - Episode 319

**Freesia Brindski** (0:01)
Good morning, good morning. Thank you so much for joining me. This is the podcast, The Endurance of Labor Laws. I'm your lovely host, Freesia Brindisi. Today is episode 319, and we're gonna take a look at another failed bank. This one is called Malta National Bank. It was based out of Malta, Ohio. But before we dive in, let me give a big shout out to my listeners, because as usual, you guys are awesome. I love to see you here. So a big shout out to California, Quebec, Illinois, Texas, New Hampshire, Montana. In terms of countries, Sweden, the United States, Brazil, Canada, Bangladesh, China, and Germany. Okay, so a little bit of background about this one. This is the Malta National Bank. It was based out of Malta, Ohio. The acquiring financial institution was North Valley Bank, and the Malta National Bank closed on May 3rd, 2001 So this goes back about 23 years. So let's take a look at the specifics of this. So it says that, and again, this is from the FDIC.gov website. So this is not me making this up. This is real stuff. This is published by our government. This is actually what happened to this bank. So it says on May 3rd, 2001, the Malta National Bank of Malta, Ohio was closed by the office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, also known as FDIC, was named Receiver. As Receiver, the FDIC is charged with winding up the business affairs of the failed financial institution. Again, the same verbiage of the FDIC. They tend to be consistent with this.
This includes the disposition of assets and liabilities of the failed financial institution, and payment of dividends to approved creditors in order of priority. So again, if you're not an approved creditor, you're screwed. If you are not considered a priority, more than likely, you're not gonna get your money. It says the FDIC as Receiver has taken all necessary actions to conclude the affairs of the failed financial institution, made all dividend distributions as required by law, and the receivership estate is deemed terminate. So again, if it's not required by law, they're not gonna pay you. That's just kind of how things roll with that. Now in terms of the press release, I got a copy of it, and this one was released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and also the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, also known as FDIC. So this was a joint press release. So this was released May 3rd, 2001 It says, Comptroller closes the Malta National Bank of Malta, Ohio. FDIC approves the assumption of all the deposits. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, also known as OCC, closed on that day, May 3rd, 2001, the Malta National Bank of Malta, Ohio, and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, also known as FDIC, as receiver. The FDIC as receiver entered into an agreement with North Valley Bank of Zanesville, Ohio, to assume all the deposits of the failed bank. The Malta National Bank's sole office will reopen or was reopened on Friday, May 4th, as a branch of North Valley Bank. The failed bank had total deposits of approximately $8.8 million in total assets of $9.5 million.
It received a National Bank Charter in September 1872 from the OCC, or OCC. So I'm thinking of the OC, Orange County, that's what I'm thinking of. That's why that reminds me of that. Sometimes like when you're reading this stuff, it reminds you of other things. And I'm not even a huge fan of reality TV, but I just remember that show being on all the time. Anyway, what I was going to say was that just because a bank closes, that doesn't mean that it hasn't always been stable or that it hasn't been around for a long time. This bank was around for well over 100 years before it was closed. So obviously something happened. Some bad people were hired and got put in charge of the money and they did not do very well. They did very bad. It goes on to say the OCC used its statutory receivership authority to close the bank after finding that the bank had engaged in unsafe and unsound practices, had incurred significant losses and that the losses were likely to continue. So they're basically saying because of what's happened at this bank, they don't see how the bank is ever going to change. It's kind of like how sometimes companies will take over another company and they fire everybody just to start fresh. There's a reason why they do that and that's what is happening here. Although the people that screwed up this bank, I guarantee you they got hired by another bank. So they're probably messing up all these banks their entire adult career because they don't have what it takes to do what it's right, what is legal and what is moral. So they basically don't have that financial character because they don't understand financial assets. They think they do but they don't. What I have found is that some of the shadiest people I've met over the years, especially in college and right after college, were people that got their MBA. So they got a master's in business administration. Well, just because they have an MBA, that doesn't mean they know how to run or operate a business. If anything, it's the direct opposite. They're squirrely, they're shady, they're basically like professional bookies from like a racetrack. That's what they remind me of.