81 Bank Failures So Far in 2009: It's All Relative

So far this year, there have been SOBSummaryRpt.asp?BegYear=2009&EndYear=2009&State=1">81 bank failures out of 8,195 FDIC-insured institutions, or slightly fewer than 1% of all banks. How does that compare to previous periods of financial stress and episodes of bank failures?

This first graph below shows annual bank failures (SOBSummaryRpt.asp?BegYear=1934&EndYear=2009&State=1">data here) from 1930 to 2009, showing the two most serious banking crises, the Great Depression (9,146 bank failures) and the S&L Crisis (2,935 bank failures).

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This chart shows bank failures from 1935 to 2009, and puts the 81 bank failures this year in perspective in comparison to the S&L crisis and the second half of the Great Depression.

Spcboffb4PI/AAAAAAAALJg/0-wCaxGAvnc/s1600-h/bank3.jpg"> This chart below shows bank failures since 1970, and puts some further perspective on the 81 bank failures this year, compared to the S&L crisis.

Spcg2d_milI/AAAAAAAALKA/IRaSdFBv1bU/s1600-h/bank1.jpg">Caveat: This analysis simply shows the number of bank failures per year, and could obviously be supplemented with data on the number and size of bank failures.

Originally posted at Carpe Diem.