With the country in its longest recession in almost 30 years and banks failing nationally at the fastest pace since the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, forecasting how many Arkansas banks will fail in the next five years is not simple.
Martin Weiss, founder of bank-rating firm Weiss Ratings Inc. of Jupiter, Fla., said last month that more than 1,500 American banks are at risk of failure in the next several years. There are about 7,500 banks in the country.
Somewhat more optimistically, Wilbur Ross, chief executive officer of W.L. Ross & Co. in New York, told the American Banker last month that as many as 1,000 bank failures nationally are possible in the next several years because of the housing crisis.
But Arkansas banks and the state’s economy seem to be performing better than financial institutions and the economy nationally.
Click here to read the full article…
