Failed Bank List

Closed Thursday, January 11, 1990 · Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

Atlantic Financial Federal

By total assets Atlantic Financial Federal is the 39th-largest of the 3,375 bank failures since 1934 for which the FDIC records a size, counted in dollars of the day. Its estimated cost to the Resolution Trust Corporation makes it the 34th-costliest failure on FDIC record since 1934. Regulators closed twelve banks that day.

On the books, 1984 to 1989

Total assets and equity capital each quarter before closing, and the estimated lossTotal assetsEquity capitalEstimated loss$0$2B$4B$6B$8B19851986198719881989Closed
Total assets peaked at $6.8 billion in the second quarter of 1987 and were 22% lower at the final report. In the three years to the second quarter of 1987, its assets grew 150%. Equity capital went from 4.6% of assets in the first quarter of 1984 to below zero at the last report. The deepest annual loss, $545 million, was booked in 1989.
Net income in each reporting year before closing, with equity capital as a share of assets at year endNet income per yearEquity to assets at year end$600M−$600M1984: $10.1 million19843.7%1985: $10.6 million19853.7%1986: $19.3 million19863.4%1987: $25.3 million19873.1%1988: −$30.6 million19882.8%1989: −$545 million1989neg.

Size against the other 1990 failures

Total assets of the 381 banks that failed in 1990, log scale$1M$10M$100M$1B$10B
Total assets of each 1990 failure, log scale; Atlantic Financial Federal in red.

By assets it ranked seventh of the 381 failures in 1990. Of the 67 failed banks on record in Pennsylvania since 1934, it ranks second by size. In the size ranking of that year, just above it was Southwest Savings Association of Dallas, Texas ($5.3 billion, loss 7.3% of assets); just below, The BENJ. Franklin Federal Savings and Loan Association of Portland, Oregon ($4.6 billion, loss under 0.1% of assets). Every 1990 failure in the explorer.

The largest of the others was Horizon Federal Savings Bank of Wilmette, Illinois, at $1.2 billion.

Failures in Pennsylvania

It was one of four banks in Pennsylvania to fail in 1990. The previous failure there was Horizon Financial, FA of Southampton, on June 8, 1989. The next was Vanguard Federal Savings Bank of Vandergrief, on February 23, 1990. Montgomery County has 8 failed banks on FDIC record since 1934. Closest in time: Hill Financial Savings and Loan Association (1989), Abraham Lincoln Federal Savings Bank (1991), Home Unity Savings and Loan Association (1992), Allegiance Bank of North America (2010), Public Savings Bank (2011).

Bank failures in Pennsylvania per year, 1980 to 2026024681987: 11989: 41990: 41991: 71992: 61996: 12003: 12007: 12009: 12010: 22011: 12012: 22014: 12016: 12024: 12026: 119801990200020102020
Per year since 1980, 1990 in red. Every Pennsylvania failure

FDIC certificate 28884 · loss estimate as of July 31, 2026 · How to read this page