Feb. 3--Merced-based County Bank and its 39 branches remain open for business, even as a landslide of operating losses and bad loans threatens to bury the bank.

The bank and its holding company, Capital Corp of the West, issued a brief statement Monday reassuring customers that money in checking, savings and money market accounts and certificates of deposit is safe because it is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The bank participates in an FDIC program in which checking accounts are 100% insured regardless of the balance, while savings, money market accounts and CDs are insured to at least $250,000.

But unless it can quickly raise tens of millions of dollars, the bank's continuing financial difficulties leave it facing an uncertain future with the potential for a takeover by another financial institution, seizure by state or federal regulators, a bankruptcy filing.

Richard Cupp, chief executive of both Capital Corp and County Bank, wouldn't rule out any of those prospects in an interview Monday.

"We're pursuing every possible option to address the critical capital and portfolio issues the bank is facing," said Cupp, who took over as CEO six months ago. "We continue to be ground zero for the real estate and economic woes of this country, and it is what it is."

Capital Corp's stock closed Monday at 19 cents a share on the NASDAQ exchange, off 56 cents -- or nearly 75% -- from Friday.

Cupp's remarks came on the heels of documents filed late Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in which bank officials cast doubt on the company's ability to survive. Capital Corp's preliminary financial results for 2008 show operating losses of about $96 million, compared with losing less than $3 million in 2007.

From 2007 to 2008, the value of County Bank's nonperforming loans -- loans that are either in default or close to default -- more than doubled, from $54 million to about $109 million.

The company said the collapse of the Valley's real-estate market is at the root of its woes. Capital Corp cited declines in the appraised value of property providing collateral for loans, as well as a deteriorating economic environment, downgrades in internal risk ratings, an increase in nonperforming loans and regulatory reviews.