Colonial taken over by Feds

WASHINGTON - Real estate lender Colonial BancGroup Inc. was shut down Friday, by federal officials.

Branches in Carson City, Fallon, Reno and Sparks were affected.

It was the biggest U.S. bank failure this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was appointed receiver of the Montgomery, Ala.-based Colonial and its about $25 billion in assets, said the failed bank's 346 branches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Texas reopened at the normal times on Saturday as offices of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T.

The FDIC has approved the sale of Colonial's $20 billion in deposits and about $22 billion of its assets to BB&T Corp.