The bank had 17 branches in the Las Vegas and Phoenix metropolitan areas and loan operations across the western United States.

[2] On September 5, 2008, the bank was closed by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division and placed under Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) receivership.

[4] Some customers, who did not understand FDIC insurance limits, sustained losses of deposits they believed safe.

[7] The underlying cause of failure was overexposure to risky real estate loans, especially mortgages on undeveloped land purchased for home construction that was no longer viable following the collapse of the housing bubble.

[8] The Wall Street Journal reported [9] that Andrew McCain, son of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, sat on the board of Silver State Bank for five months in 2008, resigning on July 26 for "personal reasons," shortly before he would have had to sign off on second-quarter audit statements.