FDIC Bank Failures: What the Numbers Look Like

Here is a brief illustration of the number of bank failures that I calculated per the FDIC public listing.

This metric is a lagging indicator of economic downturn, as you can see from the years preceding the last Great Financial Crisis of 2008 – 2010. It’s also a lagging indicator when the economy has begun to improve. Said another way, the years preceding an economic downturn is marked by a relatively low number of bank failures; and the years after the economy has begun to improve there is still relatively high number of bank failures.