It was informed by the regulators that the closing of three small banks in Louisiana, Florida and New York brings to 30 the number of U. S. banks closed so far this year.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that in all, 195 U. S. banks have failed since just after the official start of the recession in December 2008

Statewide Bank, of Covington, La., Park Avenue Bank in New York City and Old Southern Bank, of Orlando, Fla. were closed by state regulators on Friday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said that Park Avenue had assets of $520.1 million and deposits of $494.5 million at the end of 2009. The bank's deposits and nearly all of its assets were assumed by Valley National Bank, based in Wayne, N. J. It agreed to share in losses on $379.8 million in assets sold to Valley National Bank, the FDIC said.

The assets of Old Southern Bank, which had assets of $315.6 million and deposits of $319.7 million, were sold to Centennial Bank, based in Conway, Ark.

With the FDIC sharing in losses on $163.5 million of the assets, Statewide, which had assets of $243.2 million and deposits of $208.8 million, went to Home Bank of Lafayette, La. (With Input from Agencies)