According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Illinois regulators have put up the shutters on two small banks in Illinois and Nevada; thereby indicating as many as 16 similar actions in the US in the first two months this year.

There is every indication that the total number of bank closures in 2009 would surpass the figure of 25 closures in 2008; which had, in turn, leaped dramatically from a mere three closures in 2007.

While the Illinois regulators announced the closure of Heritage Community Bank, the four-branch Glenwood-based lender; the regulators in Nevada, closed down the two-branch Security Savings Bank of Henderson.

The Wall Street Journal reports say that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp has sold all the deposits of Heritage to MB Financial Bank of Chicago, and the Security savings' deposits to Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas.

In terms of assets and total deposits of the two banks in December 2008, Heritage had $232.9 million worth of total assets and $218.6 million total deposits; while Security Savings had total assets worth nearly $238.3 million and total deposits worth $175.2 million.