New York - Bank failures in the United States have risen to 120 this year as five more regional institutions were added to the list, the US agency that guarantees the safety of bank deposits said. United Commercial Bank in San Francisco with assets of 11.2 billion dollars was the largest of the failures reported Friday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The other banks were located in the states of Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan and Georgia and were substantially smaller.
The depth of the financial crisis that last year touched off a global recession was seen in comparing the numbers of bank failures, which numbered 25 last year and three in 2007.
The rate of this year's failures has not been seen since 1992 when 181 financial institutions failed as a crisis involving savings and loan associations wound down. That crisis was caused in large part by unwise real estate lending.
Friday's bank failures included Prosperan Bank of Oakdale, Minnesota, with assets of 199.5 million dollars and United Security Bank of Sparta, Georgia, with assets of 157 million dollars.
The others were Gateway Bank of St Louis, Missouri, with assets of 27.7 million dollars and Home Federal Savings Bank of Detroit, Michigan, with assets of 14.9 million.
