When California regulators closed Nano Banc of Irvine on Friday, September 25, Sunwest Bank of Sandy, Utah, agreed to take over substantially all of its deposits, and customers did not have to do anything to keep their money. Nano Banc reported $686 million in deposits as of June 30, 2026, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) says in its closing announcement. Sunwest’s own release puts the deposits it assumed at approximately $605 million.
What the FDIC says happened that Friday
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation closed the bank and appointed the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC then signed a purchase and assumption agreement with Sunwest, under which the Utah bank assumed the deposits and bought certain assets. The FDIC’s announcement gives these figures:
- Total assets of $736 million and total deposits of $686 million, both as of June 30, 2026
- About $476 million of Nano Banc’s assets bought by Sunwest, with the FDIC keeping the rest to sell later
- An estimated cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund of about $114 million, a preliminary figure that can change as the retained assets are sold
- One branch, which reopened as a Sunwest branch on Monday, September 28
Customers could reach their money all weekend by writing checks or using ATM and debit cards. The FDIC says checks drawn on Nano Banc continue to be processed, and loan customers keep making payments as usual.
What does a depositor do next? Nothing is required, the FDIC says, since “depositors of Nano Banc will automatically become depositors of Sunwest Bank.” The deposits Sunwest took over stay FDIC-insured, so there is no need to change banks. The part that deserves a second look is whether everything a household had at Nano Banc sat inside the insurance limit, which the FDIC puts at $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category…