By Jake Bernstein, ProPublica

After a brief holiday respite, bank
failure Friday came back with a vengeance. The FDIC and its
fellow regulators closed six institutions, bringing the total to 130
for the year. (See our complete list of failed banks this year.) By far, the largest institution to go down was Cleveland-based savings and loan AmTrust.
It's the fourth-largest bank or thrift to fail this year. As of late
October, AmTrust had total deposits of approximately $8 billion. Its
demise is expected to cost the FDIC's deposit fund about $2 billion.In
a geographic departure, New York Community Bank of Westbury, New York
entered into an agreement with the FDIC to assume all of AmTrust's
deposits and its 66 branches. Until now, New York Community only had
branches in New York and New Jersey. The Wall Street Journal has a detailed account of AmTrust's slow demise,
including how politicians in Cleveland and Washington interceded with
regulators to give the thrift more time, thereby likely increasing the
ultimate cost to the FDIC.Also failing on Friday were three
banks in Georgia. The Peach State now leads the country in bank
failures, with 24 this year. Among the failures was Buckhead Community Bank, located in a tony suburb of Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution describes the bank
as "founded by Atlanta business royalty to cater to a wealthy
clientele." It had total deposits of approximately $838 million. The
failure will cost the FDIC's deposit fund an estimated $241 million.The
big winner in Georgia Friday was Macon-based State Bank & Trust,
which gobbled up the remains of Buckhead Community Bank. As the Journal-Constitution reports:

Until
recently State Bank was one of the state's smallest lenders. But last
summer, the bank was acquired by an investment team led by veteran
Georgia banker Joe Evans, who raised nearly $300 million to take over
Security Bank of Macon, which failed in July.

While
gaining the deposits of Buckhead Community Bank, State Bank also agreed
to take on Buckhead's failed assets, which includes failing loans.State Bank & Trust also picked up First Security National Bank
of Norcross, Georgia, which the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency closed Friday. As of late September, First Security had
approximately $123 million in deposits. State Bank bought the deposits
and will also cover approximately $118 million of the failed assets.
The last bank to fail in Georgia Friday was Tattnall Bank
of Reidsville. HeritageBank of the South assumed its deposits. The days
carnage in Georgia alone cost the FDIC's deposit fund about $285
million.The Greater Atlantic Bank of Reston, Virginia and Benchmark Bank
of Aurora, Illinois rounded off the day's failures. This is the first
bank failure in Virginia since 1993. Greater Atlantic's deposits were
taken by Sonabank of McLean Virginia. Benchmark Bank is the 20th bank
to fail in Illinois this year. Only Georgia has had more
failures. Benchmark Bank's deposits were assumed by MB Financial Bank
of Chicago. The two failures are expected to cost the FDIC's deposit
fund $99 million.Add it all up, and Friday's bloodbath will cost the FDIC's deposit fund an estimated $2.38 billion.