As of yesterday, U.S. regulators had closed more than 100 banks this year (106 by the end of the day) for the first time since 1992.
And there would be even more, if the agency hadn’t been gutted by the previous administration:
The number of bank closings would likely be higher this year if the FDIC’s fund wasn’t depleted and if the agency had more bank examiners, RBC’s [Gerard] Cassidy said. The agency shrank under President George W. Bush before adding employees in the Obama administration. The FDIC has about 6,000 employees now, compared with 21,000 during the savings-and-loan crisis in 1991, he said.
“We certainly know there are hundreds and hundreds of zombie banks out there,” Cassidy said. “The only alternative for them is to be seized and it’s only a matter of manpower and money before they get to it.”
In August, the FDIC said 416 banks with combined assets of $299.8 billion were on its list of “problem” lenders. So much for the argument that capitalism’s crises are over. . .
