Banks Under Stress? (NEWS)

Reports keep coming in of the economy continuing to stabilize, so why are so many banks still under stress?

According to latest studies, the number of banks under stress, due to bad loans and other causes, is still higher than it should be.

Financial institutions like Citigroup, Bank of America and AIG have been getting most of the attention but many smaller banks in different parts of the country are also harshly affected by the aftereffects of the financial crisis.

Large amounts of defaults, past-due loans, and foreclosed properties are mounting up at lots of smaller and more local banks and placing heavy stress upon them.

Said one banker in Washington state, "There's no question we have our credit issues, as does almost everybody. But we have been very aggressive in provisioning for loan losses, identifying problem loans and putting them into the nonperforming category, and charging them off."

Banks Under Stress, Still (NEWS)
thaindian

The amount of banks with perilous levels of awful loans rose only somewhat in the last quarter of 2009. To a certain extent, it is because the FDIC stopped so many deteriorating banks, according to federal statistics investigated by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at the American University in Washington. But what is clear is that the list of banks under stress is intensifying. The FDIC shut down 140 botched banks in 2009, including 45 in the fourth quarter alone. Just about all had exceptionally lofty levels of bad loans. Uneasy assets include loans that are 90 days or more past due...

Banks Under Stress (NEWS)