Oct. 29--Nearly a third of the nation's bank failures so far this year -- five out of a total of 16 -- have occurred in Illinois.
The state also has another unwelcome distinction: The two biggest bank collapses so far in 2014 also have been Illinois institutions, according to SNL Financial.
The most recent downfall of an Illinois lender occurred Friday when National Republic Bank of Chicago was seized by the government.
It had $954 million in assets, making it the nation's biggest failure so far this year. The last bank at least that size to fail was a Texas institution in September 2013.
The second-biggest 2014 failure year to date, according to SNL Financial, was Moline-based Valley Bank, which had $456 million in assets when it was closed in June.
The other Illinois banks that have collapsed this year are Chicago-based GreenChoice Bank, in July; Berwyn-based AztecAmerica Bank, in May; and West Chicago-based DuPage National Bank, in January.
As of the end of June, 11 Illinois banks still operating had a Texas ratio above 100, a level that is a cause for concern.
The other four most populous states have a total of 12.
"The good news is that all but three of these 11 Illinois banks are trending in the right direction, with lower Texas ratios today than a year ago," said Justin Barr, president of Bankdataworks.com, a Highland Park-based collector of U.S. banking data. "Most of these, if not all, will likely survive."
A Texas ratio is one way to gauge a bank's health. The ratio tallies a bank's severely past-due loans and foreclosed real estate. It then compares them against the levels of a bank's capital and the money set aside for potential loan losses.
One reason for Illinois' high number of bank failures: It has a lot of banks. Illinois had 536 banks through the first half of the year. In contrast, California, Texas, New York and Florida combined had 1,082, according to FDIC records.
At the same point in 2013, 22 U.S. banks had failed, according to SNL Financial, a Charlottesville, Va.-based data gatherer on the financial services industry.
byerak@tribune.com
Twitter @beckyyerak
