US banks could post first quarterly loss since '90

[Joanne98]

Source: AP


WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's banks — which posted a 94-percent drop in third-quarter earnings — are expected to report an overall loss in the fourth quarter as the housing and credit crises escalated. A quarterly loss would be the first for the industry since late 1990.

The Office of Thrift Supervision announced a record $13 billion annual loss for savings and loans last year, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will report the latest results for all federally insured institutions later Thursday.

"The numbers are expected to be pretty grim," said Bert Ely, a banking industry analyst in Alexandria, Va.

Analysts don't make specific earnings projections for the industry as a whole.

The FDIC now believes U.S. bank failures will cost the deposit insurance fund more than $40 billion over the next four years amid the ravages of rising unemployment and falling home prices that have sent loan defaults soaring.



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