Minnesota bank regulators said late Friday that they had closed Northern Star Bank of Mankato, citing operating losses, a lack of capital and a large volume of problem assets.

As of Oct. 2, the bank had about $18.7 million in total assets and $18.3 million in total deposits.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver of the bank's assets and liabilities. It said BankVista of Sartell, Minn., will assume assets and deposits of the bank.

Customers of Northern Star, which had locations in Mankato and St. Cloud, automatically had their accounts transferred to BankVista and will see no interruption in service, regulators said.

Northern Star had been operating under the scrutiny of regulators for several years. In July 2009, it entered a consent order from the FDIC aimed at fixing inadequate capital levels.

Evan Ramstad