Only 2 banks were closed this week according to the FDIC’s Friday announcements:
In the Q4 FDIC report:
For the full year, the number of reporting institutions fell from 8,305 to 8,012. Only 31 new charters were added in 2009, the smallest annual total since 1942. Mergers absorbed 179 institutions during the year, and 140 insured institutions failed. This is the largest number of bank failures in a year since 1992. The number of institutions on the FDIC’s “Problem List” rose to 702 at the end of 2009, from 552 at the end of the third quarter and 252 at the end of 2008. Both the number and assets of “problem” institutions are at the highest level since June 30, 1993.
Is this supposed to be good news or bad news? And, if there is a cemetery for badly-run banks and their Officers, let me know where it is because I want to make sure it’s in an appropriate place…like Wall Street, for example, or on Trunk Monkey Way!