by Calculated Risk on 8/27/2009 10:00:00 AM

The FDIC released the Q2 Quarterly Banking Profile today. The FDIC listed 416 banks with $299.8 billion in assets as “problem” banks in Q2, up from 305 banks with $220.0 billion in assets in Q1, and 252 and $159.4 billion in assets in Q4 2008.

Note: Not all problem banks will fail - and not all failures will be from the problem bank list - but this shows the problem is significant and still growing.

The Unofficial Problem Bank List shows 391 problem banks - and will probably increase this week.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the number of FDIC insured "problem" banks since 1990.

The 416 problem banks reported at the end of Q2 is the highest since 1993.

There has been some concern that the FDIC has been slow to add banks to the problem list - and a number of failed banks were apparently never on the official list.

The second graph shows the assets of "problem" banks since 1990.

The assets of problem banks are the highest since 1993.

And the banking industry posted a net loss for the quarter:

Burdened by costs associated with rising levels of troubled loans and falling asset values, FDIC-insured commercial banks and savings institutions reported an aggregate net loss of $3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2009. Increased expenses for bad loans were chiefly responsible for the industry’s loss. Insured institutions added $66.9 billion in loan-loss provisions to their reserves during the quarter, an increase of $16.5 billion (32.8 percent) compared to the second quarter of 2008. Quarterly earnings were also adversely affected by writedowns of asset-backed commercial paper, and by higher assessments for deposit insurance.

On the Deposit Insurance Fund:

On June 30, 2009, a special assessment was imposed on all insured banks and thrifts. For 8,106 institutions, with assets of $9.3 trillion, the special assessment was 5 basis points of each institution’s assets minus Tier 1 capital; 89 other institutions, with assets of $4.0 trillion, had their special assessment capped at 10 basis points of their second quarter assessment base.

The Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) decreased by $2.6 billion (20.3 percent) during the second quarter to $10.4 billion (unaudited). Accrued assessment income from the regular and the special assessment increased the fund by $9.1 billion. Interest earned, combined with realized gains on securities and debt guarantee surcharges from the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program added $1.1 billion to the fund. Unrealized losses on available-for-sale securities combined with operating expenses reduced the fund by $1.3 billion.

The reduction in the DIF was primarily due to an $11.6 billion increase in loss provisions for bank failures. Twenty-four insured institutions with combined assets of $26.4 billion failed during the second quarter of 2009, the largest number of quarterly failures since the fourth quarter of 1992, when 42 insured institutions failed. For 2009 through the end of the second quarter, 45 insured institutions with combined assets of $35.9 billion failed at an estimated current cost to the DIF of $10.5 billion.

The DIF’s reserve ratio was 0.22 percent on June 30, 2009, down from 0.27 percent at March 31, 2009, and 1.01 percent one year ago. The June figure is the lowest reserve ratio for the combined bank and thrift insurance fund since March 31, 1993, when the reserve ratio was 0.06 percent.