New Bank Failures: Week of Oct. 26

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Seven community bank failures on Friday brought the total number of banks and thrifts shut down by regulators this year to 106.

All 131 bank failures since the beginning of 2008 are detailed on TheStreet.com's interactive bank failure map:

CLICK HERE FOR TABLE

The bank failure map is now color-coded, with states having the greatest number of failures highlighted in red, and states with no failures in grey. By hovering your mouse over a state you can see the combined 2008-2009 totals for each state. Then click the state top open a detailed map with pinpointing the locations and providing additional information for each bank failure.

The fast pace of bank failures is almost sure to continue over the next couple of years, because loan quality is still declining as we move to the later stages of the credit crisis. There are hundreds of community banks and thrifts with capital ratios below the minimums required for most institutions to be considered well-capitalized under regulatory guidelines. For these institutions, raising capital is very difficult because healthy banks and other investors considering bank acquisitions are being offered extremely generous loss-sharing guarantees from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to buy failed banks and thrifts.

FDIC chairman Sheila Bair reassured depositors that their insured balances in U.S. banks and thrifts were safe in a YouTube video released on the occasion of the 100th bank failure this year.

The Office of Thrift Supervision closed Partners Bank of Naples, Fla., and appointed the FDIC receiver. The FDIC arranged for Stonegate Bank (SGBK Quote) of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to assume all of the failed institution's $65 million in deposits, and its $65 million in total assets. The FDIC estimated the cost to its insurance fund would be $28.6 million.