More Bank Failures to Come: FDIC Has List of 117 Banks in Trouble

By Alex in Money & Finance on Aug 27, 2008 at 12:10 pm

Things aren’t getting any better for the US economy. And now the FDIC, which insures bank deposits up to $100,000, has added 117 banks on its "troubled bank" watch list:

Thanks to a collapsing housing market and a weak economy, a growing number of banks are struggling to stay afloat, with not enough cash on hand to cover losses from bad loans.

At the beginning of the year, 90 banks were on the FDIC watch list. There are now 117, FDIC chairwoman Sheila C. Bair announced at a news conference this afternoon. That is the highest number in five years, but some analysts expect the list to grow even more in coming months.

"I think there’s going to be a steady drip, drip, drip of bad news," said Sean Ryan, a banking analyst with Sterne Agee. "We’ve only seen the very tip of the iceberg in terms of bank failures."

Even though only nine banks have failed so far this year, Ryan expects that to quickly climb with more than 100 failures before the end of 2009.

"I would be quite surprised if we didn’t reach triple digits," he said. "Most of them are going to be relatively small institutions, but they will add up."

The FDIC doesn’t name the banks, because if the list were known, then customers would pull their money out of the troubled banks and cause them to fail: Link


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  1. biltmore
    Aug 27th, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    Is this a sign for another “Great Depression”? I sure hope not.

  2. TharkLord
    Aug 27th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    I’ve got a question.

    I keep hearing about banks in trouble but nothing about credit unions. Have they managed to avoid the greed and incompetence that has humbled the banking system?

  3. sw
    Aug 27th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    Another question:

    Would another “Great Depression” be possible with the FDIC in place?

  4. Rhea
    Aug 27th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    Oh, I think there’s lots of room for a Great Depression.

  5. nef
    Aug 27th, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    @Tharklord, credit unions are insured thru the NCUA, not the FDIC. The NCUA is stronger than the FDIC. Not only that, but when a credit union starts to go under, another credit union steps up and takes all the members of the failing one so there is no loss. The NCUA has not had to pay in a very long time due to that.

  6. Blacknimbus
    Aug 27th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    “Great Depression”?

    Unemployment is still incredibly low…there hasn’t been negative growth in two consecutive quarters yet.

    Let’s worry about an actual Recession before we start worrying about the new Dustbowl…

  7. Peeves
    Aug 27th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

    While I agree that releasing the names would be disastrous..it’s a bit disconcerting that we are all expected to be kept in the dark about the impending doom of a place that has our life savings until that doom has arrived. The relationship between banks and our govt is already super shady.

  8. mu
    Aug 27th, 2008 at 2:42 pm

    Anyone worried about bank failures might want to have a look at this link every Friday evening (closures are always announced after hours on Friday so the FDIC can try to get everything sorted out over the weekend).

    http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

  9. WallStreetBanker
    Aug 27th, 2008 at 3:04 pm

    For anyone who has a WaMu account, it’s recommended to pull out any savings you have. They are on the list. Big moooo trouble.

  10. SoLo
    Aug 28th, 2008 at 11:36 am

    When a bank closes, a formal public disclosure is made with regards to the disposition of deposits… see the link mu provided above and click on any of the banks listed. These disclosures contain standardized verbiage, and apropos to this thread in particular, each disclosure contains the following paragraph:

    “Principal and interest on insured accounts, through , are fully insured by the FDIC, up to the insurance limit of $100,000. You will receive full payment for your insured account. Certain entitlements and different types of accounts may be insured for more than the $100,000 limit. IRA funds are insured separately from other types of accounts, up to a $250,000 limit.”

    Creating a sense of panic only exacerbates the problem (looking at you, WallStreetBanker). Of course, if you base critical financial decisions on casual blog posts, you are probably already in trouble.

  11. SB
    Aug 28th, 2008 at 7:53 pm

    This is why I safely store all my money at the closest Check into Cash. (Just kidding, it’s really a check n go)


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