First Enterprise Bank Is Closed

First Enterprise Bank of Oakland has been closed by the state superintendent of banks, who said negotiations are under way to sell the 13-year-old bank to another California bank.

A statement issued Friday by banking superintendent Lewis Carter said the bank--which had offices in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland--was operating in an “unsafe” manner and was closed to protect depositors. He said that “a history of operating losses exhausted the bank’s capital.”

First Interstate had $31 million in deposits and 3,700 depositors.

Deposits up to $100,000 were guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.