CORRECTED - Regulators close four small U.S. banks

(Corrects name of closed bank in Illinois to Country Bank, 9th paragraph)

WASHINGTON Oct 14 (Reuters) - Regulators closed three small banks on Friday, said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, bringing the total number of bank failures in the United States this year to 80.

Most of the banks that have failed so far this year have had less than $1 billion in assets.

The pace of closures has slowed this year and FDIC officials project the final 2011 tally will be less than the 2010 total of 157.

In the latest round of closures, authorities closed:

-- First State Bank, Cranford, New Jersey, which had two branches, about $204.4 million in assets and $201.2 million in deposits as of June 30.

All deposit accounts have been transferred to Northfield Bank, of Staten Island, New York.

-- Piedmont Community Bank, Gray, Georgia, which had two branches, about $201.7 million in assets and $181.4 million in deposits.

State Bank and Trust Co, Macon, Georgia, agreed to assume all of he deposits of Piedmont Community Bank.

-- Country Bank, of Aledo, Illinois, which had two branches, $190.6 million in assets and $167.5 million in deposits.

Blackhawk Bank & Trust, of Milan, Illinois, agreed to assume all the deposits and $113.3 million of the failed bank's assets.

-- Blue Ridge Savings Bank Inc, Asheville, North Carolina, which had 10 branches, about $161 million in assets and $158.7 million in deposits.

Bank of North Carolina, Thomasville, North Carolina, is assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank.

The branches of the failed banks will re-open as branches of their successors, the FDIC said.

The fund used by the FDIC to cover the cost of failures is recovering from the hit it took during the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

On Monday, the agency provided an update that showed the fund was in positive territory, $3.9 billion, at the end of the second quarter following seven quarters that ended with a negative balance. (Reporting by Charles Abbott; editing by Carol Bishopric)