Horizon Bank Is The First Bank To Fail In 2010

Horizon Bank (NASDAQ: HRZB) has the undesirable distinction of becoming the first American bank failure of the year 2010. The bank's 18 branches were seized by Washington state regulators on Friday.

Washington Federal Inc. (NASDAQ: WFSL) quickly moved into acquire the failed bank.

Most customers of the bank won't notice any difference in bank operations. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures American bank deposits up to $250,000 per account, said that customers will still be able to access their accounts over the weekend.

The bank failure is expected to cost the FDIC approximately $539 million which is cause for concern due the fact that the FDIC was $8.2 billion in the red as of September 2009.

The finances of Horizon Bank deteriorated as a weak real estate market and non-performing construction loans led to its failure.