California Regulators Shut Down Nano Banc, the Sixth U.S. Bank Failure of 2026

IRVINE, Calif. — The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation closed Nano Banc, an Irvine-based bank, on Sept. 25, citing inadequate capital and regulatory violations. The FDIC was appointed receiver and immediately entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Sunwest Bank of Sandy, Utah, under which Sunwest assumed substantially all of Nano Banc's deposits and acquired a portion of its assets.

Nano Banc customers automatically became Sunwest Bank customers as part of the transaction, with the FDIC and Sunwest emphasizing uninterrupted access to deposited funds, existing checks and debit cards through the transition. Nano Banc's sole branch reopened on Sept. 28 as a Sunwest Bank location, completing the handoff within three days of the closure.

The failure is the sixth FDIC-supervised bank closure of 2026, continuing a pace of periodic small-bank failures that has drawn less attention than the larger regional-bank stress episodes of prior years but that regulators track closely as an indicator of capital adequacy across smaller institutions. As with prior FDIC-brokered acquisitions, the structure — an immediate assumption by a healthier acquirer rather than a payout process — is designed specifically to avoid the depositor-facing disruption that a slower resolution would create.

For Sunwest Bank, the deal extends its footprint into Southern California through an existing branch and customer base rather than through organic expansion. FDIC-assisted acquisitions of this kind are typically priced favorably for the acquiring bank precisely because the FDIC is prioritizing a fast, orderly transition for depositors over maximizing sale proceeds from the failed institution's assets.