by Calculated Risk on 11/29/2019 05:00:00 PM

The FDIC's official problem bank list is comprised of banks with a CAMELS rating of 4 or 5, and the list is not made public (just the number of banks and assets every quarter). Note: Bank CAMELS ratings are also not made public.

CAMELS is the FDIC rating system, and stands for Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to market risk. The scale is from 1 to 5, with 1 being the strongest.

As a substitute for the CAMELS ratings, surferdude808 is using publicly announced formal enforcement actions, and also media reports and company announcements that suggest to us an enforcement action is likely, to compile a list of possible problem banks in the public interest.

DISCLAIMER: This is an unofficial list, the information is from public sources and while deemed to be reliable is not guaranteed. No warranty or representation, expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy of the information contained herein and same is subject to errors and omissions. This is not intended as investment advice. Please contact CR with any errors.

Here is the unofficial problem bank list for November 2019.

Here are the monthly changes and a few comments from surferdude808:

Update on the Unofficial Problem Bank List for November 2019. During the month, the list declined by six to 65 banks after seven removals and one addition. Aggregate assets dropped by $4.3 billion from the month to $51.0 billion. Part of the $4.3 billion decline came from a $2.1 billion decrease in reported assets with the release of third quarter financials earlier this week. A year ago, the list held 75 institutions with assets of $53.9 billion.

Removals this month occurred through merger, action termination, or failure. Banks finding a merger partner include MidSouth Bank, National Association, Lafayette, LA ($1.7 billion Ticker: MSL); Markesan State Bank, Markesan, WI ($118 million); Fort Gibson State Bank, Fort Gibson, OK ($61 million); and The First National Bank of Paducah, Paducah, TX ($44 million). Actions were terminated against The Peoples Bank, Eatonton, GA ($130 million) and The Bank of Houston, Houston, MO ($32 million). Exiting through failure was City National Bank of New Jersey, Newark, NJ ($143 million). Added this month was Beauregard FSB, Deridder, LA ($66 million).

The first unofficial problem bank list was published in August 2009 with 389 institutions. The number of unofficial problem banks grew quickly and peaked at 1,003 institutions in July, 2011 - and then steadily declined to below 100 institutions.