Nov. 7--Two banks in the Kansas City area acquired the branches of failed institutions outside the area on Friday.

Central Bank of Kansas City gained the only office of Gateway Bank of St. Louis, which failed Friday. Central assumed all of the St. Louis bank's $27.9 million in deposits and bought all of its $27.7 million in assets.

Central, in a news release, said it has focused on the urban core in Kansas City and would do so as well in St. Louis. The bank on Friday also received $55 million in New Markets Tax Credits from the U.S. Treasury. They are part of a $5 billion program to encourage investments in projects or businesses in low-income areas.

Separately, a failed Michigan bank will reopen as part of Liberty Bank and Trust Co., which had acquired the Kansas City area branches of Douglass National Bank when it failed in 2008. Liberty, based in New Orleans, assumed $12.8 million in deposits of the Michigan bank and purchased its assets, which totaled $14.9 million.

All four banks are officially designated as minority owned institutions, as was Douglass National.

Banks in Sparta, Ga., and Oakdale, Minn., also failed Friday and were folded into healthy banks.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the four failures bought this year's count to 119.

To reach Mark Davis, call 816-234-4372 or send e-mail to mdavis@kcstar.com.

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