Six bank failures in the Midwest and...

Six bank failures in the Midwest and South brought the U.S. total this year to 12, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said, keeping up with last year’s record pace. In Louisiana, hard hit by falling petroleum prices, state banking regulators closed the United Mercantile Bank in Shreveport and the Louisiana Commercial Bank in Madisonville. Both are expected to reopen today as branches of other banks. In Texas, another state heavily reliant on energy income, the Sam Houston National Bank of Walker County was closed by federal banking regulators, as was the Northwest Bank in Dallas. Others to close were the Cedar Vale State Bank in Kansas and the Williston State Bank in Williston, N.D.