More than 1,000 US banks, or one in eight lenders, may fail in the next three to five years as commercial loan losses rise, compounding problems from record mortgage delinquencies and soaring home equity loan defaults, according to RBC Capital Markets, reports Reuters. That rate of failures would recall the height of the savings and loan collapse, when 1,386 lenders failed from 1988 to 1990, according to FDIC data. RBC had previously said 200 to 300 lenders might fail over three years. It said most failures will occur at banks with less than $2bn of assets.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 5:55 and is filed under Capital markets. Tagged with RBC. Edit this entry.