Bayside Savings Bank, of Port Saint Joe, Florida was closed down on Friday by the Office of Thrift Supervision, a division of the U.S. Department of Treasury, almost seven years after the bank commenced trading.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was appointed as receiver. To protect depositors, the FDIC entered into purchase and assumption agreements with Centennial Bank, Conway, Arkansas, to assume all the deposits and essentially all the assets of the failed institution.

Bayside's two branches at 202 Marina Dr. in Port St. Joe, and 101 15th St. in Mexico Beach, both in Florida, will reopen as branches of Centennial Bank during normal business hours.

Depositors of the locally-owned Bayside Savings Bank will automatically become depositors of Centennial Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage.

Customers of Bayside should continue to use their former branches, the FDIC said in a statement published on Friday night. Over the weekend, depositors can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards.

As of March 31, 2010, Bayside Savings Bank, which was established on 28 October 2003, had total assets of $66.1 million and total deposits of $52.4 million.

The FDIC and Centennial Bank entered into loss-share transactions on $48.3 million of Bayside Savings Bank's assets.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $16.2 million.

The closure of Bayside marks the third Florida bank failing in the past week.