This Week's Busted Banks

We're rapidly approaching the hundred mark this year, including the first bank to go under this year here in Kentucky.

Two more US banks have closed down -- including the sixth largest bank bankruptcy this year -- to bring the total number of bank failures this year to 94, according to the government banking insurer.

The Indiana-based Irwin Union Bank was shuttered with a total of 2.7 billion dollars in assets and total deposits of some 2.1 billion dollars, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said in a statement Friday

In the same group, the Kentucky-based Irwin Union Bank failed with assets of 493 million dollars and total deposits of some 441 million dollars.

The institutions were banking subsidiaries of the Columbus, Indiana-based Irwin Financial Corporation.

With 27 branch locations between them, the two banks are set to reopen under regular business hours Saturday as branches of First Financial Bank, with deposits continuing to be insured by the FDIC.

After suffering no bank failures at all in 2005 and 2006, the US banking system saw three banks going under in 2007, followed by 25 in 2008.

With the bankruptcies Friday, the institutions brought the number of bank failures this year to 94 -- highlighting the extreme stress that the global financial crisis has placed on US banking institutions.

The forced consolidation of the industry continues. Competition vanishes, and banks that are too big to fail only get bigger.

Soon the too big to fail banks will basically be the only banks left at this rate. What then?