FDIC Says More Banks Circling the Drain

Adds 111 lenders to list of troubled banks

The number of banks teetering on the edge of the abyss keeps rising, and it could soon by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that runs out of money.

The U.S. added 111 lenders to its list of “problem banks,” a jump that could deplete the reserves of the FDIC, which have already shrank 40% this year. A total of 416 banks with combined assets of $300 billion failed the FDIC’s stress test, the agency said in a report today. Regulators didn’t name the problem lenders.

The U.S. has taken over 81 banks this year, including Guaranty Financial Group in Texas and Colonial BancGroup in Alabama, amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. If the FDIC's bailout fund is drained, it has the option of tapping a line of credit at the Treasury Department that Congress extended in May to $100 billion, with temporary borrowing authority of $500 billion through 2010. But FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said the agency has no plans to borrow from the government.

Get more: MSNBCBloomberg News

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