Dozens of U.S. banks will fail by 2010

[katty]

more:

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/business/story.html?id=db0041ae-fa25-43a2-b472-f8fbb851a367&k=53982

Dozens of U.S. banks will fail by 2010: analyst
Jonathan Stempel, Reuters
Published: Friday, February 01, 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dozens of U.S. banks will fail in the next two years as losses from soured loans mount and regulators crack down on lenders that take too much risk, especially in real estate and construction, an analyst said.

The surge would follow a placid 3-1/2 year period in which just four banks collapsed, all in the last year, RBC Capital Markets analyst Gerard Cassidy said in a Friday interview.

Between 50 and 150 U.S. banks -- as many as one in 57 -- could fail by early 2010, mostly those with no more than a couple of billion dollars of assets, Cassidy said. That rate of failure would be the highest in at least 15 years, or since the winding down of the savings-and-loan debacle.

"The initial round of failures will come from smaller banks with limited access to capital and overexposure to commercial real estate," Cassidy said.

"Could banks with $75 billion or $100 billion of assets fail? That's hard to say, but it depends on the severity of the economic downturn and the real estate decline," he added.

[Joe Chi Minh]

1. Don't worry. They're just modernising like brand spanking New Labour has

been in the UK.

[katty]

3. hmmmm,well, i am keeping some pennies in my mattress :)

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. Good thinking, Superwoman! You must be one of the new elite, with a disposable income -

albeit in pennies! But one day, I'm hoping to be able to stash some in my mattress.

[katty]

5. lord no, no disposable income here! when I say pennies, I mean it!

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. Snap!

[bluemegan]

2. I assume that's if a Republican wins again in '08 n/t

[ixion]

7. the damage is done... it won't matter who wins

either way, we're staring down a rather nasty path.

[katty]

8. we certainly are-that is the only certainty we know