The year 2008 saw just 25 bank closures in US which was a five fold increase from the previous year. But the year 2009 saw another five fold jump to 140 bank closures due to massive crash in the commercial and retail real estate sectors.
The year 2010 has also begun on a very bad note, with 37 bank closures happening till March 18th.
There were seven bank closures in the last one week alone due to substantial increase in the credit defaults from small companies and also individuals. The unemployment level is still ruling around the 10% mark and there are no improvements in the housing sector. And the corpus of the government to spend more tax payers’ money for stimulus is also dwindling. So there are enough reasons for another record number of bank closures in US in 2010. It can be anywhere between 120 banks to 160 banks as per experts.