The FDIC is changing the way banks pay for insurance, and big banks will soon pay much more than their smaller rivals to protect deposits. Even so, many customers may be better off at large banks, which could start aggressively competing for new deposits.
Regulators shut down four banks Friday, bringing the total of 2010 failures to 143. That tops the 140 shuttered last year and is the most in a year since the savings-and-loan crisis two decades ago.
Over the weekend, the FDIC announced the seizure of seven banks, bringing the 2010 tally to 103. It's very possible that 2010 failures could surpass 2009, but the forecast improves starting in 2011.
The banks the FDIC closed were in Washington state, Missouri, Michigan, and Puerto Rico. The cost is a further blow to the shaky finances of the insurance fund that protects bank depositors.
The financial crisis has claimed seven more banks, bringing the total number of casualties this year to 140. The FDIC took over all seven of them: Two large banks in California, and smaller ones in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Illinois.
It's no secret that one of the biggest dangers facing banks today is that loans to builders of office towers, malls and other commercial properties are going sour at a quickening pace. Financial regulators, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chief Sheila Bair, have warned of the risk.
