Briefing
What bank failures cost the insurance fund
The FDIC estimates that the 2,944 failures it has costed since 1934 cost the deposit insurance funds $237 billion in all, in dollars of each year. For the 583 failures since 2000 the typical loss was large relative to the bank: the median estimate is 22% of the failed bank's total assets. The single costliest failure is Silicon Valley Bank at $18.7 billion, followed by First Republic Bank and IndyMac Bank.
What the estimate is
When a bank fails, the FDIC pays out or transfers insured deposits at once and then sells what the bank owned. The loss is the gap between what the fund paid and what it recovers. Because recoveries take years, the figure is an estimate that the FDIC revises; the numbers here are its estimates as of July 31, 2026. For a few failures the latest estimate shows a gain, and this site records those as no loss. The two failures announced after the FDIC's August snapshot carry the preliminary figure from the closing announcement.
The costliest failures
| Bank | Year | Est. loss | Loss to assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Silicon Valley Bank | 2023 | $18.7 billion | 9.0% |
| 2. First Republic Bank | 2023 | $15.5 billion | 7.3% |
| 3. IndyMac Bank | 2008 | $12.0 billion | 39% |
| 4. BankUnited | 2009 | $5.2 billion | 40% |
| 5. Sunbelt Savings Association of Texas | 1988 | $3.8 billion | 171% |
| 6. Lincoln Savings and Loan Association | 1989 | $3.1 billion | 65% |
| 7. Colonial Bank | 2009 | $2.4 billion | 9.3% |
| 8. Oak Tree Savings Bank | 1991 | $2.3 billion | 106% |
| 9. Western Savings Association | 1986 | $2.3 billion | 119% |
| 10. University Savings Association | 1989 | $2.2 billion | 49% |
| 11. Westernbank Puerto Rico | 2010 | $2.2 billion | 20% |
| 12. Western Savings and Loan Association | 1989 | $2.1 billion | 37% |
| 13. First RepublicBank Dallas | 1988 | $2.0 billion | 12% |
| 14. San Jacinto Savings Association | 1990 | $1.7 billion | 59% |
| 15. Firstsouth | 1986 | $1.7 billion | 101% |
Three failures since 2000, Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank, IndyMac Bank, account for 43% of the estimated losses of all 583 failures since 2000. Of the other twelve on the list, eight are savings institutions that failed between 1986 and 1991, five of them in Texas.
Losses compared with the size of the bank
Dividing the estimated loss by total assets gives a measure that can be compared across banks of any size. Since 2000 it ranges from zero, for 15 failures, to more than the bank's entire reported assets, for 0. Across the full record 56 failures cost more than their reported assets, almost all of them in the 1980s, when the FSLIC and the Resolution Trust Corporation handled insolvent savings associations whose books overstated what they owned.
Small banks lose more per dollar
The share is not the same at every size. Since 2000 the median loss for failed banks under $100 million in assets was 24%, while for the 12 failures of $10 billion or more it was 8.1%. The table shows the steps in between.
| Size at failure | Failures | Median loss to assets |
|---|---|---|
| Under $100 million | 168 | 24% |
| $100 to $500 million | 276 | 23% |
| $500 million to $1 billion | 66 | 20% |
| $1 to $10 billion | 61 | 15% |
| $10 billion or more | 12 | 8.1% |
The data does not say why. What it does show is that counts of failures and dollar losses tell different stories: a year with many small failures can cost less than a year with one large one.
The worst years
By estimated loss, the most expensive years on record were 1989 ($53.4 billion), 2023 ($34.3 billion) and 2009 ($25.8 billion). The 2023 total comes from only five failures. Every year's total, alongside its failure count, is on the year list, and the home page charts both since 1934.
To compare losses across any set of failures, sort the explorer by loss to assets or by estimated loss, and filter by state or size.
Where the losses since 2000 fell
By state, the estimated losses since 2000 are concentrated where the largest failures were. California alone accounts for 47% of the total, followed by Georgia and Florida. A state with many small failures can rank lower than one with a single large one, which is why Georgia, with the most failures since 2000, is not at the top of this table.
| State | Failures since 2000 | Est. loss | Share of all losses since 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 45 | $50.5 billion | 47% |
| Georgia | 95 | $11.1 billion | 10% |
| Florida | 76 | $10.6 billion | 10% |
| Illinois | 71 | $4.8 billion | 4% |
| Puerto Rico | 4 | $4.4 billion | 4% |
| Alabama | 7 | $3.3 billion | 3% |
Losses by insurance fund
Across the full record, the fund with the largest estimated losses is the Deposit Insurance Fund, at $107 billion over 554 failures. Since 2006 every new failure has been charged to the single Deposit Insurance Fund, which carries $107 billion from 554 failures to date.
Within the 2008 to 2014 period
The median loss as a share of assets was highest in 2008, at 37%, and lowest in 2014, at 13%. Year pages give the median for every year with enough failures, next to the full list of that year's closings.
Failures with no estimated loss
At the other end of the scale, 15 failures since 2000 show no estimated loss at all in the FDIC's current figures. They are mostly large: the eight biggest are listed below. A zero today can still change, because the estimate is revised until the receivership is closed.
- Washington Mutual Bank, 2008: $307 billion in assets
- Signature Bank, 2023: $110 billion in assets
- Guaranty Bank, 2009: $13.5 billion in assets
- Corus Bank, N.A., 2009: $7.0 billion in assets
- First Federal Bank of California, F.S.B., 2009: $6.1 billion in assets
- Riverside National Bank of Florida, 2010: $3.4 billion in assets
- Midwest Bank and Trust Company, 2010: $3.2 billion in assets
- TierOne Bank, 2010: $2.8 billion in assets
Sources
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: BankFind Suite failures, institutions and financials data; Failed Bank List. All figures computed by this site from those records; see how to read the data.