This Financial Insights report looks at the history of bank failures, with particular attention paid to the last decade in terms of the numbers and makeup of financial institutions and how the recent failures have changed the landscape. Bankers are certainly glad the first decade of the new century has drawn to a close. The period has been marked by some of the most challenging times seen in our lifetimes. However, despite all that could have happened, the system appears to have weathered the storm.
"While the number of institutions worldwide will continue to shrink," says Marc DeCastro, research manager at IDC Financial Insights, "it appears that the pace of failures is slowing and that the worst appears to be behind us. That said, numerous threats still exist that could derail the banking system, including interest rate risk, inflation, double-dip recession, commercial real estate defaults, and more declines within the real estate market. However, while these threats exist, each by itself would only have a marginal effect on the overall banking universe; it would take another perfect storm of conditions to repeat 2008–2009."