NEWARK — Although a Park National Bank in Illinois was closed Friday by the FDIC, The Park National Bank in Newark continues to operate as a strong, well-capitalized financial institution, according to Park National officials.

“This is a coincidence of name and nothing to worry about. Most people locally are familiar with our institution, our stability,” said Bethany Lewis, communications specialist for Park National Corp. “There are industry standards to be considered well capitalized; we exceed those standards.”

Although Lewis said there has been little confusion locally, an Internet-based search engine has grouped the two banks together and she fears it may lead to confusion if someone were to search for PNB online.

“It would mostly be shareholders or out-of-towners,” Lewis said.

First-Knox National Bank is a division of PNB.

“We just want to emphasize our consistent financial success,” Lewis said. “This definitely also applies to First-Knox individually and as part of our group.”

“There is no correlation between what happened in Oak Park, Ill., and Park National Bank or it’s affiliates,” said Gordon Yance, president of First-Knox National Bank. “We are strong, well capitalized and profitable.”

On Friday, U.S. Bank, NA, of Minneapolis, Minn., acquired the Illinois-based Park National Bank as well as eight other banks across the country which were subsidiaries of FBOP Corp. located in Oak Park, Ill. According to the FDIC, FBOP Corp. was not closed as part of the deal.

According to a press release issued by the FDIC on Friday, “The FDIC estimates that the cost of the nine banks to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be a combined $2.5 billion. U.S. Bank’s acquisition of all the deposits was the ‘least costly’ resolution to FDIC’s DIF compared to alternatives.”

These latest failures brings the total number of bank failures to 115 this year.