Bank Failures Occurring at Slower Rate

Federal regulators closed one bank last Friday, bringing the number of failed banks so far this year to 39, according to research from SNL Financial. That number is well off the pace of 2011, when regulators had already closed 61 banks through July 29 of last year.

The bank shuttered last week was Jasper, Ga.-based Jasper Banking Co., which had $216 million in total assets and operated three branches in north Georgia.

As of last week, the FDIC had entered into loss-share agreements with the buyers of 16 of the 39 banks that have been closed in 2012.

The median cost to the deposit insurance fund at the time of announcement, measured as a percentage of the failed banks' assets, was 21 percent in 2012. The median cost in 2011 was 23 percent, the same as in 2010 but lower than the 29 percent median cost in 2009.

[See Also: Bank Failures Down in 2012.]

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio