Midwest Federal Savings & Loan

Midwest Federal Savings and Loan was an American bank headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Starting in the mid-1960s, its headquarters were located at 801 Nicollet Mall in what is now called the Midwest Plaza. Midwest Federal was in business for ninety-nine years until its failure in 1989. Its collapse was due mostly to bad real estate loans. On April 22, 1991 the St. Paul Pioneer Press called the bank's failure the "largest financial disaster in Minnesota history" and was part of the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Midwest Federal had assets of $3.5 billion, was liquidated by the Government at a cost of $1 billion to taxpayers. Midwest was $1 billion in debt when it was seized by regulators in February 1989.^[1]

The former chairman, Harold W. Greenwood Jr., Donald J. Snede, Charlotte E. Masica, and Robert A. Mampel were indicted on Federal fraud and conspiracy charges involving financial losses at the failed institution. After its collapse, Midwest Savings was eventually placed under the "conservatorship" of the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC)^[2] until its deposits were sold to various parties. The largest share of Midwest's deposits - $638 million - went to Minneapolis banker Carl Pohlad, whose Marquette Bank Minneapolis bought the deposits of eight branches for US$3.2 million.

Causes of failure

The bank was involved with a series of unsecured loans. Many of the bad loans were to mobile home owners. On the opposite scale were the unsecured loans to the Jockey Club of Miami, a resort in Miami, Florida, beginning in 1975, with a $6 million loan in 1975. The bank continued unsecured loans to the resort until its collapse in 1990.

Timeline

Feb., 1989 - Midwest Federal declared insolvent. Chairman Greenwood Resigns FDIC takes control of Midwest Federal of bank

March, 1988 Midwest Federal Savings executives lend $6.5 million more to the money losing resort, the Jockey Club of Miami in Miami, FL. after withholding an analysis of the value of the resort from federal examiners.

May, 1989 - Carl Pohlad buys bank deposits

March, 1990 - Susan Greenwood Olson, a former officer with Midwest Federal Savings and Loan, indicted. The indictment focuses on unsecured loans extended to the Jockey Club and an inflated appraisal of its value.

June, 1990 - Bank Chairman and Executives indicted on charges of racketeering.

References

1. ^ "S.& L. Case Convictions". The New York Times. Associated Press (The New York Times Company). August 31, 1991. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/31/business/s-l-case-convictions.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/S/Savings%20and%20Loan%20Associations&scp=9&sq=%22Midwest%20Federal%20Savings%20and%20Loan%22&st=cse. Retrieved 2011-06-23. 
2. ^ "66 F.3d 956". Public.Resource.Org. http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/66/66.F3d.956.html. Retrieved 2011-06-23.