Banking Failures in Florida, Illinois, Maryland and Utah Bring 2010 Total To 26
The weekly banking failures continue as regulators closed four more failed banks.   The four failed banks for March 5, 2010 had total assets of $1.1 billion and total deposits of $1.0 billion.  The cost to the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) for [...]

Banking Failures in Nevada and Washington Bring 2010 Total To 22
The weekly banking failures continue as regulators closed two more failed banks in Nevada and Washington.   The two failed banks had total assets of $769 million and total deposits of $496 million.  The cost to the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) for this week’s [...]

Quarterly Banking Profile December 31, 2009
The FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile for the latest quarter ending December 31, 2009 continues to show a banking industry struggling with record levels of charge-offs and noncurrent loans.
Net Charge-offs And Noncurrent Loans At Record Levels
Net charge-offs for the fourth quarter of $53 billion increased by $14.4 billion over the same [...]

Regulators Tell Banks To Lend - “Prudent Lending Will Not Be Criticized”
The FDIC is encouraging banks under its supervision to increase lending to small businesses.   In a recent Financial Institution Letter, the FDIC highlights reasons for the decline in lending to small businesses as well as the rationale for banks to lend more aggressively.
Some [...]

Banking Failures in Texas, California, Illinois and Florida Bring 2010 Total To 20
Regulators continued their ritual of Friday night bank closings, shuttering 4 more banks across the country.   The four failed banks had total assets of $4.2 billion and total deposits of $3.4 billion.  The cost to the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) for [...]

Banking Links - February 19, 2010
Frightened Banks Hoard Cash - The Economist
Second Mortgage Writedowns Next Big Problem For Banks - NMN
“Council of Regulators” To Protect Against Systemic Financial Risks - Yahoo News
Debts That Cannot Be Repaid Will Not Be Repaid - Munis At Risk - WSJ
Fed Hikes Discount Rate - Bloomberg
Struggling Bank Objects To “Rigid” [...]

Banking Links - February 18, 2010
Is Your Bank On The “Do Not Trust” List? - Yahoo Finance
With Fiscal Policy Options Exhausted Japan Looks To Central Bank For Salvation - Bloomberg
Banks Take Blame For Collapse of Greece - FT
With Economy In “Recovery” Question Of How To Shrink Fed Balance Sheet Debated - Bloomberg
PIGS Risk Pushing Europe’s [...]

Banking Links - February 17, 2010
“Fool Me Once Shame On You” - US Asks Foreign Governments To Buy Mortgage Backed Securities - Again - WP
China’s Threat To Diversify Away From US Debt Becomes Reality - Bloomberg
Fed’s “Exit Strategy” A Mirage - Financial Sense
Goldman Sachs Sandbags Bond Investors On Sale Of Invisible Greek Debt - Bloomberg
BofA [...]

Banking Links - February 16, 2010

Will US Housing Market Collapse As Government Winds Down Aid? - NYT
Paulson Attacks Obama’s Financial Regulation Plans -Says Big Banks Essential To Financial Recovery -Times OnLine
Europe At The Crossroads -  Greece Rescue Would Open The Floodgates - FT
Forgiving Mortgage Debt Makes Payments Easier But At Whose Expense? - NYT
Greek [...]

Are Rising Interest Rates The Next Black Hole For Banks?
Banks seem to have perfected the technique of over investing into the wrong asset class at the wrong time.  As banks dramatically reduce lending while trying to recover from bad investments in mortgages and commercial real estate, are they now repeating their history of poor asset [...]