by Calculated Risk on 10/31/2009 08:31:00 AM

The media, and apparently FDIC employees, gather outside San Diego National Bank just minutes before the bank was seized last night. Photo credit: Lee. The mural is by Wyland.

This is one of the nine banks seized yesterday by the FDIC; a record for one week during this cycle. The second photo apparently shows the FDIC employees gathering beneath the whales ... Photo credit: Lee.

The FDIC closed nine more banks on Friday, and that brings the total FDIC bank failures to 115 in 2009. The following graph shows bank failures by week in 2009.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

Note: Week 1 on graph ends Jan 9th.

After a busy summer, the FDIC slowed down in late September and early October with only five bank failures in four weeks. Now it appears the pace has picked up again. With 9 weeks to go, it seems 150 or so bank failures is likely this year.

The 2nd graph covers the entire FDIC period (annually since 1934).

This is the most failures per year since 1992 (181 failures).

As far as failures per week - there were 28 weeks during the S&L crisis when regulators closed 10 or more banks, and the peak was April 20, 1989 with 60 bank closures (there were 7 separate weeks with more than 30 closures in the late '80s and early '90s).

For a graph that includes the 1920s and early '30s (before the FDIC was enacted) see the 3rd graph here.

Of course the number of banks isn't the only measure. Many banks today have more branches, and far more assets and deposits. Also the cumulative estimated losses for the DIF, since early 2007, is now about $47.5 billion.

The FDIC era source data is here - including by assets (in most cases) - under Failures and Assistance Transactions

The pre-FDIC data is here.