Bank failure tally reaches 130

Regulators shutter Cleveland-based AmTrust Bank, and five other banks.

Closures will cost the FDIC $2.384 billion.

By Hibah Yousuf, CNNMoney.com staff reporter Last Updated: December 4, 2009: 7:22 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The nation’s tally of 2009 bank casualties hit 130 Friday when regulators shuttered a large Ohio bank, an Illinois bank, a Virginia bank and three small Georgia banks.
The largest bank to fail was AmTrust Bank in Cleveland.
Regulators also closed Benchmark Bank in Aurora, Ill., and Greater Atlantic Bank in Reston, Va. More

Annus Horribilis Peaks in Anxiety for Global Economy (Update2)

Well the economic forecasters are coming out in droves as the economy keeps going down the drain. Bankruptcies continue to rise. Unemployment is worse than it looks. FDIC Chairman warns more bank failures coming. And last but not least Detroit is in Purgatory…

By Rich Miller and Simon Kennedy
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) –– This was the year the global economy fell apart. Next year may not be that much better, as policy makers try to put the pieces back together.
All the bulwarks crumbled: Investment banks went bust and credit evaporated. U.S. consumer spending crashed, pushing Detroit automakers to the brink of bankruptcy. And growth in China and other emerging markets nosedived.
The world economy has “suffered a cardiac arrest,” says Mohammed El-Erian, co-chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., the Newport Beach, California-based manager of the world’s biggest bond fund.
The damage is so immense and widespread, the most central banks and governments can hope for next year may be to stop the deterioration and set the stage for recovery in 2010. Failure may heighten the danger of deflation and near-depression.