FDIC deals with mounting bank failures

By Sidney perez

Seventeen American banks have failed so far this year although, no doubt, that number will have risen by the time you read this. Unfortunately, we'll certainly double, if not triple or quadruple, last year's 25 failures.

On a positive note, in only one instance this year has a failed bank not attracted an institution that wanted to scoop up its deposits, customers and a chunk of its assets. Nevertheless, every failure costs the Deposit Insurance Fund, or DIF, millions of dollars. That's the fund that backs up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s promise to reimburse customers for every dime of insured deposits when an insured bank fails.

Read more...