What was the biggest financial failure in the US history?
The largest bank failure ever occurred when Washington Mutual Bank went under in 2008. At the time, it had about $307 billion in assets. During the uncertainty of the banking crisis, however, Washington Mutual experienced a bank run where customers withdrew almost $17 billion in assets in less than 10 days.
The Financial Crisis of 2007–08
This sparked the Great Recession, the most-severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, and it wreaked havoc in financial markets around the world.
May 1984. Continental Illinois was one of the largest banks in the United States before nearly failing in 1984. Federal regulators sought to avoid the bank's failure, which they determined would have resulted in widespread economic harm, by providing the bank with substantial public financial support.
Institution Name | Failure Date | Total Assets |
---|---|---|
Washington Mutual Bank | 9/25/2008 | $307,021,614 |
First Republic Bank | 5/1/2023 | $212,638,872 |
Silicon Valley Bank | 3/7/2023 | $209,026,000 |
Signature Bank | 3/12/2023 | $110,363,650 |
During the 2008 financial crisis, so-called too-big-to-fail banks were deemed too large and too intertwined with the U.S. economy for the government to allow them to collapse despite their role in causing the subprime loan crash.
- Depression of 1920–1921, a U.S. economic recession following the end of WW1.
- Wall Street Crash of 1929 and Great Depression (1929–1939) the worst depression of modern history.
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from the stock market crash of 1929 to 1939.
Please update your browser or turn off ad blocker to continue to watch. For just over one month, Silicon Valley Bank was the second-largest bank failure in US history. That was until First Republic Bank, a California lender that catered to wealthy clients, knocked it off that spot.
The collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March 2023—then the second- and third-largest bank failures in U.S. history—took consumers by surprise. Subsequently, three more banks failed in 2023: First Republic Bank in May, Heartland Tri-State Bank in July and Citizens Bank of Sac City in November.
Bank name | Bank failure date | Assets* |
---|---|---|
Washington Mutual Bank | Sept. 25, 2008 | $307 billion |
First Republic Bank | May 1, 2023 | $212 billion** |
Silicon Valley Bank | March 10, 2023 | $209 billion** |
Signature Bank | March 12, 2023 | $110 billion** |
Who is the number 1 bank in America?
JPMorgan Chase, or Chase Bank, is the biggest bank in America with nearly $3.4 trillion in assets. It boasts a vast network of over 4,800 physical branches and more than 15,000 ATMs. With generous bonuses and promotions and a variety of products, Chase is a popular choice for consumers across the country.
Bank | Forbes Advisor Rating | Learn More |
---|---|---|
Chase Bank | 5.0 | Learn More Read Our Full Review |
Bank of America | 4.2 | |
Wells Fargo Bank | 4.0 | Learn More Read Our Full Review |
Citi® | 4.0 |
2024 in Brief
There are no bank failures in 2024. See detailed descriptions below. For more bank failure information on a specific year, select a date from the drop down menu to the right or select a month within the graph.
Did Anyone Go to Jail for the 2008 Financial Crisis? Kareem Serageldin was the only banker in the United States who was sentenced to jail time for his role in the 2008 financial crisis. He was convicted of hiding losses by mismarking bond prices.
No one is really expecting BofA to default—it's too big to fail, after all—but its status relative to the others has certainly fallen. BofA isn't catching JPMorgan. Right now, it can't even keep up with Wells and Citi. Its earnings are coming on Tuesday, and the impact of higher rates will show up in BofA's results.
In most cases, the FDIC will try to find another banking institution to acquire the failed bank. If that happens, customers' accounts will simply transfer over to the new bank. You will get information about the transition, and you will likely get new debit cards and checks (if applicable).
The US now has an 85% chance of recession in 2024, the highest probability since the Great Financial Crisis, economist David Rosenberg says.
In the United States, the Great Recession was a severe financial crisis combined with a deep recession. While the recession officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, it took many years for the economy to recover to pre-crisis levels of employment and output.
The last time the U.S. experienced a recession was in 2020. But that was a relatively short recession. The biggest recession in U.S. history sparked the Great Depression, between 1929 and 1933, though the Great Recession (2007-2009) was the worst in modern times.
ITR Economics is projecting that the next Great Depression will begin in 2030 and last well into 2036. However, we do not expect a simple, completely downward trend throughout those years. There will be signs of slight growth that pop up during this period.
Was the Great Depression the worst financial crash in US history?
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in US history. It began in 1929 and did not abate until the end of the 1930s. The stock market crash of October 1929 signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. By 1933, unemployment was at 25 percent and more than 5,000 banks had gone out of business.
Everybody involved with the 2007–2008 financial crisis is partly to blame for the Great Recession: the government, for a lack of oversight; consumers, for reckless borrowing; and financial institutions, for predatory lending and unscrupulous bundling and selling of mortgage-‐backed securities.
Bank | City | Assets at time of failure |
---|---|---|
Inflation-adjusted (2023) | ||
Washington Mutual | Seattle | $434 billion |
First Republic Bank | San Francisco | $229 billion |
Silicon Valley Bank | Santa Clara | $209 billion |
The collapses of First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were the second-, third- and fourth-largest bank failures in the history of the United States, respectively, smaller only than the collapse of Washington Mutual during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
Bank NameBank | CityCity | Closing DateClosing |
---|---|---|
Signature Bank | New York | March 12, 2023 |
Silicon Valley Bank | Santa Clara | March 10, 2023 |
Almena State Bank | Almena | October 23, 2020 |
First City Bank of Florida | Fort Walton Beach | October 16, 2020 |