Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. The FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with First Independence Bank to assume substantially all deposits of Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust.

Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust’s sole office will reopen as a branch of First Independence Bank during its normal business hours on Monday, February 2, 2026. Depositors of Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust will automatically become depositors of First Independence Bank. The deposits assumed by First Independence Bank will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship.

Customers of Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust will have immediate access to their deposits. Over the weekend, they can access their deposits by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual. 

Customers with questions should contact the FDIC toll-free at 1-866-314-1744 or visit the FDIC’s website. This phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Time (CT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CT; Monday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CT; and thereafter from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., CT. 

As of September 30, 2025, Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust reported total assets of $261.1 million and total deposits of $212.1 million. First Independence Bank agreed to assume substantially all deposits at the time of closing. It will also purchase approximately $251 million of the failed bank’s assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition. 

The FDIC preliminarily estimates that the failure will cost its Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) about $19.7 million. The estimate will change over time as retained assets are sold. 

Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust is the first bank to fail in the nation this year.

When someone says you are their enemy and they want you dead, or when they say once they gain power they will torture and kill you, you should believe them.

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Trump should be careful what he wishes for. No one in the United States (except Lindsey Graham) wants to fight a war for Israel. Deflection from the impending economic Western financial collapse was an expected excuse for starting a war.

Estimated Probability of Western Financial System Failure

Based on the decline and manipulation in metals as indicators, I estimate a 15–25% probability of systemic failure in the next 12–24 months. Here’s the reasoning:

• Substantiation for Higher Risk: Metals volatility reflects deeper issues like debt saturation and eroding trust in fiat systems (100% historical failure rate for unbacked currencies, per analysts). If manipulation is real and physical shortages force “failure to deliver,” it could cascade into bank insolvencies (e.g., shorts in billions) and contagion, as warned in X discussions and reports like Pareto Investor. Historical parallels (1929, 2008) show overleveraged speculation leading to crashes when bubbles pop.
• Why Not Higher?: Evidence leans toward natural corrections rather than orchestrated failure. Stability reports (IMF, Fed) emphasize contained risks, with tools like rate cuts and liquidity injections available. Metals forecasts suggest rebounds, not sustained collapse. Economic fundamentals (growth, jobs) remain supportive, and Western systems have proven resilient post-2008.

This isn’t a precise calculation—probabilities here are interpretive, drawing from market data, expert views, and historical patterns. Metals are a symptom, not the sole cause; true failure would require broader triggers like a debt crisis or geopolitical shock.

Many of us are trying to understand why Trump has been doing the things he’s been doing lately – because they seem to be destructive things, as regards the political palatability (and so, viability) of MAGA.

It was weird – and a little appalling – when Trump suddenly sicced the military on Venezuelan speedboats, blowing not just them but also their helpless occupants into oblivion. The justification – drugs – seemed equally weird given the drugs Trump complains about generally come from Mexico, not Venezuela. It also made many of us feel a little sick to watch people bobbing in the water being obliterated. That sort of thing – the execution of helpless people who are no longer capable of shooting back – got people court-martialed once upon a time.

Then Trump sent in the Hut! Hut! Hut! crew to literally kidnap a foreign head of state. Whatever you think about Maduro, he was the president of Venezuela. Where did Trump get the authority to just remove a foreign head of state? And – why? Venezuela has lots of oil, it is said – and that is true. But it’s going to be tough to get that oil – and get it to the United States, as every serious analyst agrees. American companies being reluctant to invest hugely in an iffy foreign country that could easily become a very difficult place to do business in.

Then there’s Greenland. All of a sudden it is a strategic – and existential – necessity for America to annex it. Never mind that there is already an American base there and it’s not 1945 anymore, anyhow. No Lend Lease convoys are heading for Europe from America. And Russian hypersonic missiles are too fast to be stopped by countermeasures installed on Greenland anyhow.

So – again – why?

Most recently, Trump has made public anti-gun utterances after his FBI director made similar utterances. It has understandably alarmed many of Trump’s increasingly uncomfortable Second Amendment-supporting supporters, who thought they were voting for a man (and an administration) that wasn’t gun-grabby. (Yes, I know. Trump has not actually grabbed any guns – yet. But it is reasonable to worry he might grab them going forward, given what he and Patel, the FBI director, have said. Which indicates what they think.)

The above all happened after a man got shot to death in the street in the course and context of what many people see as a purposely inflammatory display of federal goonery. Ten million illegals aren’t going to be rounded up by ICE and deported. It is a logistical improbability – shy of martial law and neighborhood-by-neighborhood sweeps. Which may be coming.

It is not popular, however. Every poll shows Trump has lost the power of the immigration issue he rode back into office. Most Americans were not happy with the open border and wanted something done to close it and something done to deal with the very real problem of the 10 million-plus strange and exotic people who are demographically and so politically threatening to change America forever. They would probably welcome and even cheer cutting off the Free Shit and siccing the FBI on state/local officials who refuse to comply. But they are understandably uneasy about what certainly looks like a metastasizing police state that they fear – also understandably – might wheel around and police them, going forward.

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