PANews reported on December 22 that according to Dailyhodl, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said in its quarterly bank overview report that the number of US banks on its "problem bank list" rose to 68 in the third quarter. The total assets held by problem banks increased by US$3.9 billion to US$87.3 billion. Problem banks accounted for 1.5% of the total number of banks, which is within the normal range of 1% to 2% for all banks in non-crisis periods.
At the same time, the amount of unrealized losses on banks' balance sheets has declined. As of the third quarter of this year, banks had booked losses of $364 billion, mainly due to their exposure to residential real estate and Treasury markets. Unrealized losses represent the difference between the price banks paid for securities and the current market value of those assets. In the third quarter, banks booked losses of $148.9 billion less than the $512.9 billion in the second quarter.
