by Calculated Risk on 11/06/2009 09:27:00 PM

Note: This was before the FDIC seized four banks today.

This is an unofficial list of Problem Banks.

Changes and comments from surferdude808:

The steady climb in members on the Unofficial Problem Bank list continued this week despite the failure of the multi-bank holding company FBOP Corporation, which took down 9 banks including 5 banks with aggregate assets of $17.5 billion that were on the Unofficial Problem Bank List.

There were 10 additions this week, which pushes the total number of institutions on the list to 505, up from 500 last week. Aggregate assets did drop to $330 billion from $341 billion a week ago.

Notable additions include Hanmi Bank, Los Angeles, CA ($3.9 billion, ticker HAFC); Bank of Blue Valley, Overland Park, KS ($810 million, ticker BVBC.OB); and San Luis Trust Bank, FSB, San Luis Obispo, CA ($369 million, ticker SNLS..OB). In addition, another banker’s bank was added -- Independent Banker's Bank of Florida, Lake Mary, FL. The failure of Silverton Bank, N.A., another banker’s bank based in Georgia, back in May was a costly failure for the FDIC.

By next Friday, the OCC may release its actions for October.

This week we looked over the numbers to determine which states have the most stress in their banking sector. For the ranking, we added together the number of institutions that are on the Unofficial Problem Bank List and failures since 2008 and divided by the number of institutions headquartered in the state and failures since 2008. Interestingly, Georgia is not the top ranked state. Here is the top 10 list; actually top 11 as Maryland and Colorado are in a virtual tie. Please note that we only ranked states with at least 15 institutions headquartered within their borders, as we did not want the ranking influenced by a small banking market.

State	Percent
Washington	26.3%
Utah	25.0%
Arizona	21.3%
Nevada	20.0%
Oregon	19.5%
Georgia	19.2%
California	17.8%
Florida	16.3%
Michigan	13.2%
Maryland	10.8%
Colorado	10.6%

Washington State leads the way with more than 26 percent of its banking industry either under formal enforcement action or having failed. No wonder the esteemed governor wrote a letter to the state’s congressional delegation complaining about bank regulators (see Wall Street Journal article).

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire sent a letter to her congressional delegation Oct. 9 complaining that "federal regulators have applied inflexible 'one size fits all' regulatory standards on community banks and potential investors that hinder the ability of these community banks to weather the financial storm and actually inhibit opportunities to raise critically needed capital at the local level." Her letter came just days after the Federal Reserve declined to approve the sale of Frontier Financial, the fifth-largest bank in her state, to a New York investment fund for $450 million. Frontier Financial Chief Executive Patrick Fahey declined to comment.

The list is compiled from regulator press releases or from public news sources (see Enforcement Action Type link for source). The FDIC data is released monthly with a delay, and the Fed and OTC data is more timely. The OCC data is a little lagged. Credit: surferdude808.

See description below table for Class and Cert (and a link to FDIC ID system).

For a full screen version of the table click here.

The table is wide - use scroll bars to see all information!

NOTE: Columns are sortable - click on column header (Assets, State, Bank Name, Date, etc.)





Class: from FDIC

The FDIC assigns classification codes indicating an institution's charter type (commercial bank, savings bank, or savings association), its chartering agent (state or federal government), its Federal Reserve membership status (member or nonmember), and its primary federal regulator (state-chartered institutions are subject to both federal and state supervision). These codes are:

N National chartered commercial bank supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

SM State charter Fed member commercial bank supervised by the Federal Reserve

NM State charter Fed nonmember commercial bank supervised by the FDIC

SA State or federal charter savings association supervised by the Office of Thrift Supervision

SB State charter savings bank supervised by the FDIC

Cert: This is the certificate number assigned by the FDIC used to identify institutions and for the issuance of insurance certificates. Click on the number and the Institution Directory (ID) system "will provide the last demographic and financial data filed by the selected institution".