About the same time every week, it seems I receive an alert informing me another bank somewhere in the country has collapsed.
Last week was no exception.
Around 5:30 p.m. Friday, an item moved announcing the failure of a Bradford Bank in Baltimore, only to be followed an hour later with Mainstreet Bank in Forest Lake, Minn. Three hours later came Affinity Bank, based in Ventura, Calif.
The good news is the three failed banks reopened Saturday under new ownership, and consumers were able to access accounts.
Shaky ground
We are in the 35th week of the year and there have been 84 bank failures, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Web site.
That's about 2 1/2 a week, and puts the nation on pace to see about 125 financial institutions close their doors.
In recent days, the FDIC revealed its troubled bank list stretched to 416 at the end of June, up from 252 at the start of the year. A bank on the list is not guaranteed to fail, but does have issues that need to be resolved.
"We don't have any on there as of yet," state Banking Commissioner John Allison said.
He said the state has seen an increase in the number of banks with concerns, but he feels management has a handle on the situation. He would not reveal the number or names of the banks.
Miss. climate
The Bank of Falkner was the last Mississippi-based bank forced to close on Sept. 29, 2000, because of an "inordinate amount of fraudulent activity," Allison said.
The state had a rash of failures from 1989-90 tied to the savings and loan debacle.
Allison said although the potential number of failed banks in the U.S. is high, it doesn't compare to the savings and loan crisis.
"There were 200-plus closing a year for at least three years, he said. He also reminded people about the benefits of FDIC insurance, which covers up to $250,000.
"No person that had their money in an insured institution has lost a penny if it was under the insured limit," Allison said.
