6 ms·

FDIC Failed Bank List

38 points by harporoeder 4y ago

pseudoramble 4y ago
I noticed it only seems to go back to around the year 2000. So it seems like there are probably very many missing. Also Florida banks have a fairly large amount of this list. I wonder why. Anyway, kinda neat. It would be interesting if they included a summary of what the expected cause of the failures were too.
- Rebelgecko 4y ago
  My guess is that the vast majority of these banks failed due to mortgage backed securities crapping out around 2008-2010
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- cmeacham98 4y ago
  Edit: oops, misread Wikipedia, ignore this comment.
  - elsewhen 4y ago
    The FDIC website states that the organization was established in 1933[0] [0] https://www.fdic.gov/about/history/ https://www.fdic.gov/about/history/
    - pseudoramble 4y ago
      I’m not sure what the original comment was, but yeah this is related to what I was thinking of. I didn’t notice the first time the site says data only goes back to 2000, and figured there would’ve been some data from the Great Depression.
metadat 4y ago
Presumably posted in response to "Voyager suspends trading, deposits, withdrawals, and loyalty rewards", where it's linked. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31952379 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31952379
_-david-_ 4y ago
>This list includes banks which have failed since October 1, 2000. Does anybody know if the FDIC has a complete list?
jason2323 4y ago
Surprisingly can’t find Lehman Brothers in this list
- throwaway5959 4y ago
  Lehman Brothers was an investment bank, different kind of bank.
  - metadat 4y ago
    Are they not technically in the set of failed U.S. banks? What kind of banks are on the list? Why are there "other" kinds of financial banks at all? If you'd said a food bank, I'd understand the fundamental difference.
    - hayleox 4y ago
      I assume this is only for banks that take deposits, since that's the only kind of bank that the FDIC insures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_banking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_banking
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
tothrowaway 4y ago
I would never keep more than $250K in a bank. Many people (and even tellers at the bank) don't understand FDIC insurance ownership categories. You probably don't have as much insurance as you think. Bank failures do happen, and you don't want to lose thousands of dollars when it takes a few minutes to open up a second savings account. Ally, Barclays, American Express, Discover are all fine choices for parking money. If you have tons of cash (nice problem to have), you can open up brokerage accounts (Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard are good ones), drop your money in a money market, and SIPC insurance is good for $500K. There are also "cash accounts" at some banks that will spread your money around for you to maximize FDIC coverage. I don't like this, because you're putting all your faith in one bank saying "trust us".
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  If you regularly keep large sums in bank deposits, a more efficient method is a sweep account [1]. These accounts “sweep” funds into multiple accounts every night to maximise overnight interest and FDIC protection. [1] https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/PDF_Fidelity_Cash_Management_Account_FDIC_Disclosure_document_(PDF).pdf https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/doc...
- yieldcrv 4y ago
  I would be comfortable keeping hundreds of millions in a US bank. FDIC insurance has pretty much never been pulled, the "failed bank" doesn't give you any insight into this, instead the FDIC uses the capitalization information of all the banks it has oversight over and uses that to act as a broker for sells before the insurance is needed. They just get on the phone with a bigger bank and say "hey you wanna buy this massive pile of crap and mismanagement for pennies on the dollar with an assurance you'll avoid any antitrust issue or prosecution for fraud from this new subsidiary you'll have?" And the bigger bank is like "woah all those customers and their info and people that think they have free checkings account? we can make all this money back in the first month!" and all the balances are placed in the bigger more heavily capitalized bank. In 2008 the big banks also had trouble, and it was pretty skillfully managed, note that FDIC insurance would not have been able to cover a big bank failing, it is a confidence scheme just like everything else. And the the consolidations occurred for the next 6 years. There is nothing proven to prevent losses during 2008's great financial crises, or a worse scenario, there are things that fortunately didn't happen. All of this is before you have to worry about those insurance ownership categories. Because you're right, that is very nuanced! It's either: FDIC insurance won't matter (small bank failing), or, FDIC insurance won't matter (big bank failing). And so given no proven alternatives, I don't worry about it. You can min/max by having 100s of bank accounts with a max of $250k if you really want. I'll pass.
vehemenz 4y ago
Here's a similar list for failed NCUA-insured credit unions: https://www.ncua.gov/support-services/conservatorships-liquidations https://www.ncua.gov/support-services/conservatorships-liqui...
throwaheyy 4y ago
Interesting article about what happens when a bank fails and the FDIC steps in. They make it virtually transparent and seamless to the bank’s customers. https://www.npr.org/2009/03/26/102384657/anatomy-of-a-bank-takeover https://www.npr.org/2009/03/26/102384657/anatomy-of-a-bank-t...

38 points by harporoeder 4y ago

I noticed it only seems to go back to around the year 2000. So it seems like there are probably very many missing. Also Florida banks have a fairly large amount of this list. I wonder why. Anyway, kinda neat. It would be interesting if they included a summary of what the expected cause of the failures were too.

Rebelgecko 4y ago
My guess is that the vast majority of these banks failed due to mortgage backed securities crapping out around 2008-2010
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
cmeacham98 4y ago
Edit: oops, misread Wikipedia, ignore this comment.
- elsewhen 4y ago
  The FDIC website states that the organization was established in 1933[0] [0] https://www.fdic.gov/about/history/ https://www.fdic.gov/about/history/
  - pseudoramble 4y ago
    I’m not sure what the original comment was, but yeah this is related to what I was thinking of. I didn’t notice the first time the site says data only goes back to 2000, and figured there would’ve been some data from the Great Depression.

metadat 4y ago

Presumably posted in response to "Voyager suspends trading, deposits, withdrawals, and loyalty rewards", where it's linked. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31952379 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31952379

_-david-_ 4y ago

>This list includes banks which have failed since October 1, 2000. Does anybody know if the FDIC has a complete list?

jason2323 4y ago

Surprisingly can’t find Lehman Brothers in this list

throwaway5959 4y ago
Lehman Brothers was an investment bank, different kind of bank.
- metadat 4y ago
  Are they not technically in the set of failed U.S. banks? What kind of banks are on the list? Why are there "other" kinds of financial banks at all? If you'd said a food bank, I'd understand the fundamental difference.
  - hayleox 4y ago
    I assume this is only for banks that take deposits, since that's the only kind of bank that the FDIC insures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_banking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_banking
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

tothrowaway 4y ago

I would never keep more than $250K in a bank. Many people (and even tellers at the bank) don't understand FDIC insurance ownership categories. You probably don't have as much insurance as you think. Bank failures do happen, and you don't want to lose thousands of dollars when it takes a few minutes to open up a second savings account. Ally, Barclays, American Express, Discover are all fine choices for parking money. If you have tons of cash (nice problem to have), you can open up brokerage accounts (Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard are good ones), drop your money in a money market, and SIPC insurance is good for $500K. There are also "cash accounts" at some banks that will spread your money around for you to maximize FDIC coverage. I don't like this, because you're putting all your faith in one bank saying "trust us".

JumpCrisscross 4y ago
If you regularly keep large sums in bank deposits, a more efficient method is a sweep account [1]. These accounts “sweep” funds into multiple accounts every night to maximise overnight interest and FDIC protection. [1] https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/PDF_Fidelity_Cash_Management_Account_FDIC_Disclosure_document_(PDF).pdf https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/doc...
yieldcrv 4y ago
I would be comfortable keeping hundreds of millions in a US bank. FDIC insurance has pretty much never been pulled, the "failed bank" doesn't give you any insight into this, instead the FDIC uses the capitalization information of all the banks it has oversight over and uses that to act as a broker for sells before the insurance is needed. They just get on the phone with a bigger bank and say "hey you wanna buy this massive pile of crap and mismanagement for pennies on the dollar with an assurance you'll avoid any antitrust issue or prosecution for fraud from this new subsidiary you'll have?" And the bigger bank is like "woah all those customers and their info and people that think they have free checkings account? we can make all this money back in the first month!" and all the balances are placed in the bigger more heavily capitalized bank. In 2008 the big banks also had trouble, and it was pretty skillfully managed, note that FDIC insurance would not have been able to cover a big bank failing, it is a confidence scheme just like everything else. And the the consolidations occurred for the next 6 years. There is nothing proven to prevent losses during 2008's great financial crises, or a worse scenario, there are things that fortunately didn't happen. All of this is before you have to worry about those insurance ownership categories. Because you're right, that is very nuanced! It's either: FDIC insurance won't matter (small bank failing), or, FDIC insurance won't matter (big bank failing). And so given no proven alternatives, I don't worry about it. You can min/max by having 100s of bank accounts with a max of $250k if you really want. I'll pass.

vehemenz 4y ago

Here's a similar list for failed NCUA-insured credit unions: https://www.ncua.gov/support-services/conservatorships-liquidations https://www.ncua.gov/support-services/conservatorships-liqui...

throwaheyy 4y ago

Interesting article about what happens when a bank fails and the FDIC steps in. They make it virtually transparent and seamless to the bank’s customers. https://www.npr.org/2009/03/26/102384657/anatomy-of-a-bank-takeover https://www.npr.org/2009/03/26/102384657/anatomy-of-a-bank-t...