FDIC: Most banks lose money

It's no news that Florida banks are losing money. The state's banks have posted a collective $395 million loss this year. But performance has actually improved relative to the first six months of 2009, according to the latest data released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The FDIC's release shows significant attrition in Florida banking this year. While the number of insured banks open for business fell only slightly between June 30, 2008 and the same day in 2009 — from 311 to 301 — the drop has been more precipitous over the past 12 months, with 36 additional failures. Only 265 banks reported to the FDIC this year, a 12% decrease.

Beyond those failures, slightly more than 62% of banks still in business have lost money so far this year. But those losses are shrinking relative to a year ago.

The $395 million lost by Florida banks in the first half of 2010 is down 61% compared to last year, when banks lost more than $1 billion in six months. And while return metrics are still negative, with a -0.52% return on assets and a -5.21% return on equity statewide, those ratios are improving as well, compared to the -1.22% and -12.98% rates from 2009, respectively.

There's still work to be done, however. The statewide ratio of noncurrent loans and leases to total lending stands at 7.54%, essentially where it was a year ago (7.28% in 2009).

What's saving banks are customers' savings — that is, an expanded deposit base. The statewide ratio of core deposits to total liabilities is 71.14% as of June 30, compared to 67.89% a year ago.

Additional data from the FDIC is available online.