Failed Bank List

Closed Wednesday, January 24, 1990 · Buffalo, Erie County, New York

Empire of America FSB

By total assets Empire of America FSB is the 24th-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 24th-costliest failure on FDIC record since 1934. Of the 73 failed banks on record in New York since 1934, it ranks third by size.

On the books, 1984 to 1989

Total assets and equity capital each quarter before closing, and the estimated lossTotal assetsEquity capitalEstimated loss$0$3B$6B$9B$12B19851986198719881989Closed
Total assets peaked at $11.6 billion in the third quarter of 1988 and were 30% lower at the final report. Equity capital went from 2.4% of assets in the first quarter of 1984 to below zero at the last report. It reported a net loss in three of its final six reporting years. The deepest annual loss, $1.1 billion, 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$1.2B−$1.2B1984: −$78.0 million19841.4%1985: $18.2 million19851.6%1986: $46.8 million19864.4%1987: $16.6 million19871.9%1988: −$64.5 million19881.9%1989: −$1.1 billion1989neg.

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; Empire of America in red.

By assets it ranked fourth of the 381 failures in 1990. In the size ranking of that year, just above it was Centrust Bank, A State Savings Bank of Miami, Florida ($8.2 billion, loss 8.2% of assets); just below, Merabank, A Federal Savings Bank of Phoenix, Arizona ($6.3 billion, loss 11% of assets). Every 1990 failure in the explorer.

Failures in New York

In 1990 regulators closed 12 banks in New York; this was the first. The previous failure there was First City National Bank and Trust Company of New York, on December 20, 1989. The next was Monroe Savings Bank, FSB of Rochester, on January 26, 1990. Erie County has 3 failed banks on FDIC record since 1934. The others: Goldome (1991), Waterford Village Bank (2009).

Bank failures in New York per year, 1980 to 20260369121981: 11985: 21987: 11988: 11989: 41990: 121991: 71992: 81993: 11995: 11999: 12004: 12009: 12010: 32023: 119801990200020102020
Per year since 1980, 1990 in red. Every New York failure

FDIC certificate 30321 · loss estimate as of July 31, 2026 · How to read this page