Not only was their loan portfolio carelessly assembled, but far too high a percentage of their assets were tied to mortgage backed securities. Like the hundreds of other banks that have failed in the past three years, they (along with everyone else)believed that these securities were issued with the full backing of the United States governmnet.

So they were not only part of the problem, they were falling victim to the same problem at the same time.

It's a shame too, because Cooperative was one of Wilmington's shining stars for over one-hundred years. They were a good savings and loan that unfortunately started believing that you really could build a house of cards that would last.