Amcore Financial, Inc. (fka AMFIQ)

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News report says FDIC is seeking bids for Amcore [The Wisconsin State Journal] Knight Ridder/Tribune    "Business News "
Mar. 13 -- Amcore Financial is one of about half a dozen financially ailing Chicago area banks that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is putting up for bids from potential buyers, according to a published report.

The Chicago Tribune , citing unnamed sources, said the Rockford bank, whose 66 branches include 10 in the Madison area, is among those targeted by the FDIC for potential takeover.

Amcore declined to comment on the report, as did an FDIC spokesman.

If the bank is a takeover candidate, there are probably several banks that could consider acquiring Amcore, said Bob Cramer , a co-founder of several local banks and a lecturer at the UW-Madison School of Business Puelicher Center for Banking Education . "It would depend on (Amcore) fitting into their strategy," he said.

Last year, federal regulators ordered Amcore to shore up its financial structure and in January, they said the plan the bank submitted did not meet expectations.

Amcore had $4.1 billion in assets, with $380.9 million in nonperforming assets, or loans for which the bank did not expect full or any payment, as of Dec. 31, 2009 .

Amcore sold four Wisconsin branches last November and said it planned to sell 12 branches in Illinois . But federal regulators said that would pose more of a risk to the bank's capital base.

Shares of stock in the publicly traded bank sank 25.6 percent Friday, closing at 51 cents , down from 69 cents the day before.

Amcore received notice from the Nasdaq market Friday that its stock has closed below $1 a share for at least 30 consecutive business days. If it does not close above $1 for 10 consecutive business days by Sept. 7 , the stock could be delisted.

With the stock so low, "the chances of getting a capital injection are pretty slim," Cramer said.

But he is optimistic a potential buyer can be found. "There are a lot of very healthy, larger banks in the Midwest that could well step in," Cramer said.

The FDIC posts information about banks available for takeover on a secure Web site, where potential bidders can download data and see if they are interested, an agency spokesman said. They may have anywhere from a week or two to three months to review the data.

As of Friday evening, 30 federally insured banks in the U.S. have failed so far this year.

When a buyer takes over, accounts up to $250,000 are guaranteed for coverage by the FDIC , and in some cases, they are covered beyond that amount. The banks typically close on a Friday evening and reopen for business as usual the following Monday.

More information about FDIC -insured accounts is available at www.myfdicinsurance.gov.

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