Nine American banks go bust in '09

NEW YORK: Mirroring the deepening turmoil in the financial system, nine US banks have collapsed so far this year -- which is nearly one-third of
the total such failures in 2008.

This month already has seen three banks going belly up, while six entities were shut down in January.

Last year, there were a total of 25 bank failures, with majority of them happening post September, when the financial turmoil turned worse with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said, three banks were closed on February 6. The latest ones to fail are County Bank, Alliance Bank and FirstBank Financial Services.

Going by data from the FDIC, an independent agency often appointed as the receiver for failed banks, County Bank's assets stood at USD 1.7 billion, as on February 2.

Alliance Bank had assets to the tune of USD 1.14 billion, while it had deposits of USD 951 million.

FirstBank Financial Services's assets stood at USD 337 million and deposits were worth USD 279 million. The figures are based on assets and deposits as on December 31, 2008.

The six bank failures in January this year is the highest for any month since 2000. Earlier, the maximum bank collapses was in November 2008, when five entities failed.