At least the banking industry is safe and sound, ready for fat bonuses. Maybe this is why there's a sudden new interest in Washington to address the severe problems in the banking industry. The banks, no doubt, have done an excellent job of convincing many in Washington that they only needed to get over the ever-so-small problems last year. The massive injection of capital helped keep money moving though too much into the pockets of bankers. The next round of pain for the banks may not be as bad as the failures last year but that situation was unique. The coming problems in the banking industry will be a major challenge to the bottom line of the banks. Plenty more pain to come, but will there ever be any consequences for the banks?
U.S. regulators say that the level of losses from syndicated loans facing banks and other financial institutions tripled to $53 billion in 2009, due to poor underwriting standards and the continuing weakness in economic conditions.
According to the Shared National Credit Program (SNC) 2009 Review, an annual inter-agency report released on Thursday, credit quality deteriorated to record levels with respect to large loans and loan commitments.
