Eight more US banks fail

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/139571.html


The federal financial regulators in the US have shuttered eight more banks, bringing the number of banks failed this year to 118 amid an ongoing financial crisis.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC ) on Friday seized eight banks including four California-based banks, a community bank in Chicago, and banks in Florida and Virginia.

In California, bank takeovers hit Sonoma Valley Bank of Sonoma, Los Padres Bank, Solvang, Butte Community Bank, Chico, and Pacific State Bank, Stockton, while in Chicago ShoreBank, well-known for its social activism was shuttered, the Associated Press reported.

Imperial Savings and Loan Association of Martinsville, Virginia; Community National Bank At Bartow, Bartow, Florida; and Independent National Bank, Ocala, Florida, were taken over by the FDIC on Saturday.

The FDIC estimates the eight banks seized Friday will cost the deposit insurance fund USD 479.4 million.

During the financial crisis the US set up a USD 700 billion relief program to bailout its ailing financial centers.

The Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, has failed to bring the financial meltdown to an end or even stabilize the US reeling financial system.

US trade deficit hits record high

President Obama intends to double US exports in five years


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138341§ionid=3510203


The US trade deficit in June has reached its widest point in the past 20 months on the rising imports and weakening exports - an indication of a slow economic recovery.

The US trade gap in June was on its fastest track since October 2008, reaching USD 49.9 billion, and disappointing expectations about a growing economy.

"This is spectacularly terrible," economist Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics said on Wednesday, explaining that rising imports eat in to already anemic US growth figures, AFP reported.

Imports in June showed a three percent rise to hit USD 200.3 billion, while exports fell by 1.3 percent to USD 150.5 billion, the Commerce Department said.

The June deficit bewildered both the government and private economists.

"The slowing in exports will only fan fears of a faltering US recovery," said Sal Guatieri, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, AP reported.

Most expert estimations put June's deficit at around USD 42.2 billion.

Facing lackluster growth and a high jobless rate, the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday vowed to renew crisis-era measures that pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into ailing markets to prevent the economy from falling into another recession.

US President Barack Obama has put export growth high on his agenda.

Obama is seeking to double US exports during the next five years to about USD 3.1 trillion by 2015

More bank failures grip US economy

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136875§ionid=3510203


US regulators have shut five more banks over mounting loan defaults and economic recession, bringing the total number of failed US banks this year to 108.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) authorities closed Bayside Savings Bank and Coastal Community Bank in Florida, NorthWest Bank and Trust in Georgia, LibertyBank in Oregon and Cowlitz Bank in Washington on Friday in a bid to deal with the finicial problems facing the country, US media reported on Friday.

The FDIC took over the banks with assets worth a combined sum of 1.9 billion dollars.

The five failures are expected to cost the regulatory body over 300 million dollars.

Florida and Georgia are amongst the states with the highest number of bank closures in the wake of the US property market collapse that entailed the so-called toxic assets from mortgage loans.

Bank failures have been accelerating so far this year with 108 closures nationwide and it is anticipated to peak in 2010.

The pace has sped up as banks' losses mount on loans made for commercial property and development, a report in The Associated Press indicates.

Many companies have shut down in the recession, vacating shopping malls and office buildings financed by the loans which have led to delinquent loan payments and defaults by commercial developers.

7 more US banks shut by regulators

This week's bank closures in the US have boosted
the toll so far this year to 103, compared with 64
for the same period of 2009.


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136033§ionid=3510213


US regulators have closed seven more banks, pushing the 2010 total to 103, making it the second year in a row in which over 100 lenders have been closed.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced Friday it has closed seven small banks with the largest, Crescent Bank and Trust, having about $1.01 billion in total assets and $965.7 million in total deposits, Reuters reported.

This year's bank closures are occurring at a faster pace than in 2009 when the 100 mark was not reached until October.

The FDIC released a report last month on the overall health of the country's banking industry, saying that it saw improvements, but economic threats were still lurking.

The corporation said the failures would cost its insurance fund $431 million.

The recovery of the community banking industry has lagged the recovery of the overall US economy.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said earlier in July that 2010 is going to be the peak year for bank failures in the US.

Since 2009, more than 240 banks have failed in the United States.

“The remaining shakeout will be geographically concentrated and much more restricted to smaller institutions,” said Steve Reider, president of Bancography, a consulting firm based in Birmingham, Alabama, Bloomberg reported.

Georgia, Illinois and Florida are among the states hardest hit by the banking crisis.

The failures come as reports say the US budget deficit will hit an all-time high in the 2010 fiscal year.