Closed Friday, April 16, 2010 · Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Butler Bank
No bank in Massachusetts had failed for 15 years, since Ludlow Savings Bank closed in 1994. Butler Bank's founding in 1901 put it past its 100th year when it closed. Regulators closed eight banks that day.
On the books, 2002 to 2010
Total assets peaked at $324 million in the fourth quarter of 2008 and were 24% lower at the final report. In the three years to the fourth quarter of 2008, its assets grew 106%. Equity capital went from 9.8% of assets in the second quarter of 2002 to below zero at the last report. It reported a net loss in three of its final nine reporting years. The deepest annual loss, $14.3 million, was booked in 2008.* 2010: January to March only, the last report before closing.
Size against the other 2010 failures
Total assets of each 2010 failure, log scale; Butler Bank in red.
By assets it ranked 80th of the 157 failures in 2010. Within Massachusetts it ranks 27th by size of the 56 failures recorded since 1934. Across the failures of 2010, the median estimated loss came to 21% of assets. In the size ranking of that year, just above it was First Commerce Community Bank of Douglasville, Georgia ($248 million, loss 41% of assets); just below, Chestatee State Bank of Dawsonville, Georgia ($244 million, loss 34% of assets). Every 2010 failure in the explorer.
No bank in Massachusetts has failed since. Middlesex County has 13 failed banks on FDIC record since 1934. Closest in time: The Central Savings Bank (1992), The Bank for Savings (1992), Malden Trust Company (1992), Guaranty-First Trust Company (1992), Commercial Bank and Trust Company (1994).