Nearly 15% Of Illinois Banks Are Unprofitable

The percentage of unprofitable commercial banks in Illinois rose to 14.66 percent in the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 8.18 percent in the year ago period, according to data released Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Illinois commercial banks have earned $989 million year to date, down from $2.79 billion in the same period of 2007.

Return on equity for the 573 Illinois commercial banks was 3.19 percent, down from 11.89 in the year ago period. Those results generally held up better at smaller banks; banks with assets of less than $100 million saw return on equity drop from 6.34 percent to 5.56 percent, while banks with assets of more than $100 million saw theirs decline from 12.18 percent to 3.11 percent.

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