Dozens Of U.S. Banks Will Fail By 2010

"The initial round of failures will come from smaller banks with limited access to capital and overexposure to commercial real estate," Cassidy said. "Could banks with $75 billion or $100 billion of assets fail? That's hard to say, but it depends on the severity of the economic downturn and the real estate decline," he added. Banks are under pressure as a slowing economy, the housing crunch, weak job growth and rising energy costs make it harder for individuals and businesses to pay their bills. Compounding the problem has been the seizing up of capital markets that has led to more than $130 billion of write-downs worldwide, including at lenders such as Citigroup Inc , Bank of America Corp and Washington Mutual Inc . On Wednesday, Standard & Poor's said financial industry losses linked to mortgages may reach more than $265 billion. ... http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/080201/business/business_banks_failures_col

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