Two More Banks Fail

The tally of failed banks in 2008 rose to 19 as the government announced that a Texas and a California bank had been shuttered. Franklin Bank, a Houston, Texas-based bank and Security Pacific Bank, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based bank were shut down by state regulators, marking the 18th and 19th bank failures this year. Franklin Bank had total assets of $5.1 billion and total deposits of $3.7 billion as of Sept. 30, 2008, according to a statement on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Web site. Ironically, Lewis Ranieri, the 61-year-old co-founder and chairman of parent Franklin Bank Corp., is credited with inventing mortgage-backed securities two decades ago, back when he worked at Salomon Brothers, where he is a former vice chairman.