Murphy Wall State Bank to file FDIC petition to merge Ekville State Bank
The board of directors of the 138-year-old Murphy Wall State Bank & Trust Co. has served public notice it will file a petition with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) seeking permission to merge the 106-year-old Elkville State Bank into the Murphy-Wall State Bank & Trust Co. in the coming months.
Murphy-Wall State Bank and Trust Company, the oldest bank in Perry County, was established in 1874 by W. K. Murphy, George W. Wall, and George W. Parker. Until its incorporation as a state bank in 1907, the bank was known as "The Exchange Bank of Murphy, Wall and Company" and also as "Murphy, Wall and Company, Bankers."
Murphy-Wall State Bank & Trust Co. is a closely held banking corporation with $106.5 million in assets (September 2012 banking reports), with $90.7 million in deposits, a loan portfolio of $50.07 million, capital of $12.2 million and a profit of $790,000 as compared to $100.17 million in assets, $86 million in deposits, $53.3 million in loans, $963,000 in reserves and a $732,000 profit through Sept. 30, 2011.
The same reporting system shows the Elkville State Bank with $22.1 million in assets, $17.6 million in deposits, $2.6 million in loans, capital of $3.9 million and a profit of $171,000 as of Sept. 30, 2012. That compares to 2011 assets of $24.9 million, deposits of $20.88 million, loans of $2.66 million, capital of $3.87 million and a profit of $160,000 through Sept. 30, 2011.
The "Notice of Bank Merger" states only that "Notice is hereby given that Murphy-Wall State Bank and Trust Company, an Illinois state-chartered bank with its main office located at 105 East Water Street, Pinckneyville, Illinois, intends to apply to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to merge Elkville State Bank, an Illinois state-chartered bank with its main office at 1010 South 4th Street, Elkville, Ill. with and into Murphy-Wall State Bank & Trust Co. All of the offices of Murphy-Wall State Bank & Trust Company and Elkville State Bank will become offices of Murphy-Wall State Bank & Trust Co."
Any person wishing to comment on this application may file his or her comments in writing with the Regional Director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation at its regional office, 300 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 1700, Chicago, Illinois 60606 no later than February 16, 2013. Photo copies of the non-confidential portion of the application will be made available upon request.
Elkville State Bank president Bud Havens said it was premature to discuss the negotiations or the outcome. Elkville State Bank is also a closely held bank.
Murphy-Wall State Bank & Trust officers were not immediately available for comment. Murphy-Wall State Bank has enjoyed continuous growth and expansion. Since the first published notice of its total resources in 1881 of $76,585.88, the bank's assets have multiplied many times, to a present total in excess of $106,000,000.
Murphy-Wall State Bank formed a one-bank holding company, Murphy-Wall Bancorp, Inc. in April of 1994. It has locations in both Pinckneyville and Murphysboro. On Nov. 21, 2005, the Murphysboro facility at 105 N. Williams St. opened.
The merger is against a backdrop of fewer banks doing better after the 2008 recession.
The nation's banks turned in another strong performance in the third quarter, continuing the steady recovery from the financial crisis that gripped the nation four years ago, according to the FDIC.
Compared with Sept. 30, 2011, an analysis of quarterly banking results by the Investigative Reporting Workshop shows:
Profits for all banks in the U.S. for the first three quarters of 2012 totaled $106.9 billion, up from $93.2 billion in the first nine months of 2011, a gain of 14.6 percent and putting banks on target to have one of their most profitable years ever. Banks made a total of $114.3 billion last year. The most profitable year was 2006, when banks had net income of $141.4 billion.
Meanwhile, there is no let up in the relentless consolidation of the industry. The FDIC reported results for 7,190 banks, compared with 7,444 in September 2011.