FDIC puts 117 banks on the watchlist

FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Company) that insures deposits (generally up to a value of $100,000) has put 117 banks on their watchlist, for deficiencies in finance, operations or management that threaten their viability as a business. FDIC publishes its watchlist on a quarterly basis.

Failure to administer corrective action results in the bank being sold or taken over by FDIC, or combination of both (FDIC can take over a bank and then sell its assets e.g. takeover of IndyMac Bancorp (US mortgage lender) following its failure in July 2008.

To put this into perspective, during the S&L crisis of the late 80s and early 90s, about 1500 banks were on the watchlist (about 12 times as many as presently).