California regulators closed Irvine-based Nano Banc on Friday, September 25, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation appointed Sunwest Bank to take over its deposits and certain assets, shifting customers to a new bank without interrupting access to their money.
The FDIC said Sunwest Bank would assume all Nano Banc deposits after California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation closed the state-chartered bank and appointed the FDIC as receiver.
Sunwest said the deposits being assumed total approximately $605 million, while the transaction also includes about $227 million of loans. Nano Banc customers can continue writing checks and using their ATM and debit cards, and checks drawn on the failed bank will continue to be processed, according to Sunwest.
Loan customers should continue making payments normally. The former Nano Banc operation is scheduled to reopen as Sunwest Bank on Monday, September 28.
For depositors, the structure of the transaction means customers do not have to wait for the FDIC to separately pay insured balances before gaining access to their accounts. Deposits move to the acquiring institution as part of the resolution process. Investozora’s guide to what happens when a bank fails explains how receivership and deposit transfers generally work.
The closure follows months of regulatory pressure on Nano Banc. In a March 2026 enforcement order, California’s financial regulator directed the bank to raise its tangible shareholders’ equity ratio to at least 9.5% and maintain that level.
The order also gave Nano Banc an alternative path: enter into a definitive agreement to merge with another insured bank or sell the institution to an acquirer acceptable to the state regulator.
That makes Friday’s action a material change from the previous regulatory state. Nano Banc had been operating under requirements intended to strengthen its capital position or produce an acceptable transaction; it has now been closed, placed into FDIC receivership and transferred to an acquiring institution.
The FDIC’s resolution also matters differently for depositors who already held money at Sunwest Bank. Under FDIC rules, deposit insurance generally covers up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category.
Customers with deposits at both institutions should therefore pay attention to how accounts are treated as the banks are combined. Investozora has a detailed guide to FDIC deposit-insurance coverage for readers with balances near or above the standard limit.
Sunwest, a privately held commercial bank headquartered in Utah, said the Nano Banc transaction is its sixth FDIC-assisted acquisition. The bank says it has more than $5 billion in assets and operates offices in California and several other states.
The immediate question for Nano Banc customers is largely operational: when the transition to Sunwest’s systems will be completed and whether individual account features eventually change. For now, the announced resolution is designed to preserve access to deposits while Sunwest takes over the failed bank’s accounts and selected assets.
