Financial crisis likely means more bank failures

Associated Press
Published: October 5, 2008

Economists consider it a safe bet that a lot of banks are not going to survive over the next year despite Washington’s 700-billion-dollar bailout plan.
   
Strapped by huge losses from risky home loans, the banking industry is on its shakiest ground since the early 1990s when more than 800 federally insured institutions went belly up. That was during the clean-up phase of the savings-and-loan meltdown which ended up coasting taxpayers around 200 billion dollars in today’s money. Louisiana State University finance professor Joseph Mason thinks the cleanup this time could also cost upwards of 200 billion dollars.
   
Analysts doubt that the 700 billion dollars earmarked to buy up bad debts is going to be enough to avert a major shakeout. Analyst Jaret Seiberg of Stanford Financial says it will help, but he’s looking for more than 100 bank failures next year.