FDIC gives up on Silverton Bank

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it is throwing in the towel on Silverton Bank, a so-called "banker's bank" that it shut down in May and tried unsuccessfully to sell off.

FDIC, a government entity that insures thousands of banks nationwide, took over the Atlanta-based Silverton on May 1 with the intention of finding another business to take it over.

But FDIC spokesman David Barr told CNNMoney.com on Friday that the government gave up attempts last weekend to find a buyer.

"We created a marketing effort to try and get someone to buy Silverton, but we were unsuccessful in doing that," said Barr. "We received one bid over the weekend and it was not sufficient."

Barr declined to comment on whether FDIC had been dealing with the Carlyle Group, as was reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The government will maintain a bridge bank it established in May until at least July 29, to allow clients time to make the transition without upsetting the industry.

"The only option now is to slowly wind down the affairs at Silverton and allow time for those other banks to transition over," said Barr. "We're doing this transition phase to lessen any impact on the banking industry and the client banks of Silverton."

Barr said the bridge bank will be extended past July 29 if necessary.

Silverton was different from the 30-plus other banks that have failed this year, because it did not take deposits from or make loans to customers. Instead, Silverton was a business-to-business bank, only dealing with other banks.

Altogether, Silverton conducted business with about 1,400 community banks in 44 states.