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GAO Study Finds Small Bank Failures have Minimal Impact on Community
Over a four year period ended in December 2011 and representing the height of the banking crisis there were 414 failures of insured U.S. banks. Of these, 353 or 85 percent would be classified as smaller banks with less than $1 billion in assets and ten states had ten or more of these small bank failures. Because of questions asked about factors contributing to the failures, the effectiveness of FDIC's resolution methods, and the effects on the banks' local communities the GAO recently conducted a study focusing on small bank failures in those state with the largest numbers to determine if there were local contributing factors. Its report was issued today.