US bank failures continue to rise

US banks still continue to fail. Three banks failed two weeks ago, five a weeks ago and then seven banks failed this Thursday. The count has risen to 52 bank failures this year. There were only 28 bank failures last year and in 2007, only three banks failed.

A major reason for the high number this year is because of the six bank failures in Illinois. All six of them were controlled by the same family, Campbell family of the Campbell Group, and were operated similarly. The Campbell Group operates nine banks.

A total of twelve banks have seen their fate go down the drain in 2009. On the other hand, the bank from Texas that failed this Thursday was Texas’s only bank to do so this year. It should be noted that Illinois did not see a single bank failure from 2002 – 2008.
The seven banks that failed this Thursday are: John Warner Bank, First State Bank, Rock River Bank, Elizabeth State Bank, The First National Bank of Danville, Millennium State Bank and Founders Bank.

Founders Bank was the biggest of all these banks and had $960 million worth of assets and $850 in deposits.