Banks, Small Banks | featured news

Focus hard on this shocking Wall Street reality: The top six bank holding companies earned an aggregate of $51 billion in pretax income in 2009.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said state regulators closed Access Bank of Champlin, Minn., and the Bank of Bonifay in Bonifay, Fla., bringing to 66 the number of U.S. banks that have failed this year.

Obama is set to announce initiatives aimed at boosting credit to small businesses, including measures to make it easier for small banks to access TARP.

U.S. regulators closed seven small banks on Friday, a pace matching a one-day total seen earlier in July and bringing the number of failures so far this year to 64.

Regulators on Friday shut two banks in California and two smaller banks in Georgia and South Dakota, boosting to 57 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year.

Geithner told a group of community bankers that the Treasury plans to soon offer smaller banks more capital by reopening a key financial rescue program.

State and federal bank regulators shut down tiny Silver Falls Bank of Silverton, Ore., making it the 14th bank to fail this year.