Delinquency on home-equity loans owned by banks has been deteriorating, though other residential delinquency was lower. Despite a decline in the number of active financial institutions, staffing in the sector has expanded.
Loans owned by federally insured banks and secured by one- to four-unit residential properties grew to $1.8753 trillion in the second quarter from $1.8588 trillion three months earlier. Bank holdings have also expanded from the second-quarter 2011, when the total was $1.8311 trillion.
Delinquency of at least 30 days on “other 1-4 family residential” loans was 11.61 percent, lower than 11.77 percent in the first quarter. Delinquency was also down from 11.82 percent in the second quarter 2011.
The statistics were determined from second-quarter data on banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Also on their books were $0.5802 trillion in home-equity lines of credit. HELOC holdings were trimmed from $0.5904 trillion and have been pared from $0.6153 trillion in the same quarter of last year.
Delinquency on home-equity loans climbed to 3.53 percent from the first quarter’s 2.98 percent and the second-quarter 2011’s 2.85 percent.
Second-quarter net income at federally insured banks was $34.5 billion, off from $35.3 billion earned in the first quarter but better than $28.5 billion earned in the same period last year. It was the 12th consecutive year-over-year increase in bank earnings.
FDIC Acting Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said that the bank sector continued to make gradual but steady progress toward recovery.
“Strong business loan growth and aggressive cost controls are helping banks maintain earnings despite a challenging economic environment,” the American Bankers Association said of the second quarter numbers. “At the same time, knowledge that interest rates will remain low for years means businesses feel no urgency to borrow. Ultimately, the pace of the economy will determine whether businesses decide to expand operations and how quickly banks’ core lending business will return.”
U.S. banks employed 2,108,200 people as of June 30, a few thousand more than the 2,102,280 employees as of March 31. Bank staffing stood at 2,106,615 at the same point in 2011.
There were 7,246 financial institutions insured by the FDIC. In the prior quarter, 7,308 banks were insured, while the count was 7,513 in the same quarter during the prior year.
The most recent number reflected 6,222 commercial banks and 1,024 savings institutions. The primary asset concentration group was “mortgage lenders” at 712 banks.
Year-to-date FDIC bank failures total 31 banks. In the second quarter, 732 banks with $282 billion in assets were classified as “problem institutions.”
