The number of US bank failures this year reached 106 on Friday,when regulators closed seven more small banks,marking the highest annual level of failed institutions since 1992 during the savings and loan crisis. The number is expected to continue rising as the industry tries to get a handle on commercial real estate loans that will continue to deteriorate as more strip malls go vacant and condo developments remain stalled. The seven banks that were shuttered on Friday all had assets under $350 million. The largest bank failure in the current crisis was Washington Mutual,which had assets of $307 billion when it was shuttered in September 2008. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said the banks that were closed on Friday were Partners Bank in Florida,American United Bank in Georgia,Hillcrest Bank Florida,Flagship National Bank in Florida,Bank of Elmwood in Wisconsin,Riverview Community Bank in Minnesota,and First Dupage Bank in Illinois. Those failures brought the number of closings past 100 for the year,and is the first time the annual number of closures has reached that level since 1992 when 181 banks failed. There were 25 bank failures in 2008,up from three in 2007. Banks are still cleaning up their balance sheets from the recent credit boom that fueled banks' appetite to extend loans,many with poor underwriting and triggers that caused borrowers' payments to spike to unaffordable levels. Community banks,especially,built up high concentrations of commercial real estate loans for developments that have failed to attract tenants or have become vacant. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair has said the banking industry's recovery is expected to lag the improvement in the overall economy.
