Recovery? More Than 100 Bank Failures in 2009, Jobless Number Soars

New York – Two more banks were taken over late Friday by US regulators, bring to 101 the number of bank failures so far this year. The latest financial institutions to fall amid the longest recession since the 1930s were regional banks in Florida and Georgia. After the highly publicized failure of Wall Street investment banks and the federal bail-outs of others, this year’s failures have mostly involved smaller, local and regional banks. The 100th failure was Partners Bank in Naples, Florida, with assets of 66 million dollars. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which protects small depositors and steps in when banks are deemed insolvent, immediately announced the takeover of Partners Bank by Florida-based Stonegate Bank. American United Bank of Lawrenceville, George, with assets of 111 million dollars, will be taken over by Ameris Bank, which is also Georgia-based. The FDIC often arranges for stronger banks to quickly receive the assets and accounts of failing banks. Alabama’s Colonial Bank was the largest to go under, so far, in 2009 with assets of 25 billion dollars, which made it the sixth- largest bank ever to fail in the United States. 2009’s 101 failures are already the most since 1992.

US Economy: 531, 000 new jobless claims reported

In the U.S. this week, 531,000 new claims were filed by people seeking unemployment insurance. The figure was significantly higher than the 515,000 claims estimated by the economists.

The claims reported this week were even higher than last week’s figures. Last week, the initially reported figures for claims stood at 514,000 which were later revised to 520,000.

The four week average went down by 750 to be recorded at 532,250 claims, a value which averaged out the peaks and lows in the weekly figures. Unemployment insurance is presently being given to 4.1% of the total eligible population, which is down from last week’s figures by 0.1 percentage points.

In the week which ended on October 10, continuing claims declined by 98,000 to stand at 5.92 million, with the smoothened four week average being 6.03 million.

Citing seasonal factors, labor officials had thought that the initial claims would go down by 59,000. But a reduction of only 49,000 unadjusted claims was reported. This, on the whole, led to the rise in the value of the seasonally adjusted figures.

See also:

• Prediction: More than 300 bank failures in America
• Wave of Unemployment in the U.S.: What to Expect, What to Do
• Video: 2.5 Million Jobs Lost Since Obama’s Presidency
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• Video: What happens after the US goes bankrupt?
• No Economic Recovery in Sight: More Financial Chaos Ahead
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