Regulators close small bank in Minnesota, bringing number of US bank failures to 18 in 2014

Regulators have closed a small lender, the 18th bank failure in the U.S. this year after 24 closures in 2013.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that it has taken over Northern Star Bank, based in Mankato, Minnesota.

The bank operated two branches and had about $18.8 million in assets and $18.2 million in deposits as of Sept. 30.

BankVista, based in Sartell, Minnesota, agreed to assume all of Northern Star Bank's deposits and to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's assets.

Northern Star Bank's failure is expected to cost the federal deposit insurance fund $5.9 million.