Ten states concentrated in the western, midwestern, and southeastern United States—all areas where the housing market had experienced strong growth in the prior decade—experienced 10 or more bank failures between 2008 and 2011 (see fig.1). Together, failures in these 10 states comprised 72 percent (298), of the 414 bank failures across all states during this time period. Within these 10 states, 86 percent (257) of the failed banks were small institutions with assets of less than $1 billion at the time of failure, and 52 percent (155), had assets of less than $250 million. Twelve percent (36) were of medium-size banks with more than $1 billion but less than $10 billion in assets, and 2 percent (5) were large banks with assets of more than $10 billion at the time of failure. In the 10 states with 10 or more failures between 2008 and 2011, failures of small and medium-size banks were largely associated with high concentrations of commercial real estate (CRE) loans, in particular the subset of acquisition, development, and construction (ADC) loans, and with inadequate management of the risks associated with these high concentrations. Our analysis of call report data found that CRE (including ADC) lending increased significantly in the years prior to the housing market downturn at the 258 small banks that failed between 2008 and 2011. This rapid growth of failed banks’ CRE portfolios resulted in concentrations—that is, the ratio of total CRE loans to total risk-based capital—that exceeded regulatory thresholds for heightened scrutiny established in 2006 and increased the banks’ exposure to the sustained downturn that began in 2007. Specifically, we found CRE concentrations grew from 333 percent in December 2001 to 535 percent in June 2008. At the same time, ADC concentrations grew from 104 percent to 259 percent. The trends for the 36 failed medium-size banks were similar over this time period. In contrast, small and medium-sized banks that did not fail exhibited substantially lower levels and markedly slower growth rates of CRE loans and as a result had significantly lower concentrations of them, reducing the banks’ exposure. With the onset of the financial crisis, the level of nonperforming loans began to rise, as did the level of subsequent charge-offs, leading to a decline in net interest income and regulatory capital. The rising level of nonperforming loans, particularly ADC loans, appears to have been the key factor in the failures of small and medium banks in the 10 states between 2008 and 2011. For example, in December 2001, 2 percent of ADC loans at the small failed banks were classified as nonperforming. With the onset of the financial crisis, the level of nonperforming ADC loans increased quickly to 11 percent by June 2008 and 46 percent by June 2011. As banks began to designate nonperforming loans or portions of these loans as uncollectible, the level of net charge-offs also began to rise. In December 2001, net charge-offs of ADC loans at small failed banks were less than 1 percent. By June 2008, they had risen to 2 percent and by June 2011 to 12 percent. CRE and especially ADC concentrations in small and medium-size failed banks in the 10 states were often correlated with poor risk management and risky funding sources. Our analysis showed that small failed banks in the 10 states had often pursued aggressive growth strategies using nontraditional and riskier funding sources such as brokered deposits. The IG reviews noted that in the majority of failures, management exercised poor oversight of the risks associated with high CRE and ADC concentrations and engaged in weak underwriting and credit administration practices. Further, 28 percent (84) of the failed banks had been chartered for less than 10 years at the time of failure and according to FDIC, appeared in many cases to have deviated from their approved business plans. Large bank failures in the 10 states were associated with some of the same factors as small banks—high-risk growth strategies, weak underwriting and risk controls, and excessive concentrations that increased these banks’ exposure to the real estate market downturn.The primary difference was that the large banks’ strategies generally relied on risky nontraditional residential mortgage products as opposed to commercial real estate. To further investigate factors associated with bank failures across the United States, we analyzed data on FDIC-insured commercial banks and state-chartered savings banks from 2006 to 2011. Our econometric analysis suggests that across the country, riskier lending and funding sources were associated with an increased likelihood of bank failures. Specifically, we found that banks with high concentrations of ADC loans and an increased use of brokered deposits were more likely to fail from 2008 to 2011, while banks with better asset quality and greater capital adequacy were less likely to fail. An FDIC IG study issued in October 2012 found that some banks with high ADC concentrations were able to weather the recent financial crisis without experiencing a corresponding decline in their overall financial condition. Among other things, the IG found that these banks exhibited strong management, sound credit administration and underwriting practices, and adequate capital. We found that losses related to bank assets and liabilities that were subject to fair value accounting contributed little to bank failures overall, largely because most banks’ assets and liabilities were not recorded at fair value. Based on our analysis, fair value losses related to certain types of mortgage-related investment securities contributed to some bank failures. But in general fair value-related losses contributed little to the decline in net interest income and regulatory capital that failed banks experienced overall once the financial crisis began. We analyzed the assets and liabilities on the balance sheets of failed banks nationwide that were subject to fair value accounting between 2007 and 2011. We found that generally over two-thirds of the assets of all failed commercial banks (small, medium-size, and large) were classified as held-for-investment (HFI) loans, which were not subject to fair value accounting. For example, small failed commercial banks held an average of 77 percent of their assets as HFI loans in 2008. At the same time, small surviving (open) commercial banks held an average of 69 percent in such loans. Failed and open small thrifts, as well as medium- size and large commercial banks, had similar percentages. Some assets and liabilities, such as securities designated for trading, are measured at fair value on a recurring basis (at each reporting period), where unrealized gains or losses flow through the bank’s earnings in the income statement and affect regulatory capital. However, for certain other assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis, such as AFS securities, unrealized fair value gains and losses generally do not impact earnings and thus generally are not included in regulatory capital calculations. Instead, these gains or losses are recorded through other comprehensive income, unless the institution determines that a decline in fair value below amortized cost constitutes an other than temporary impairment, in which case the instrument is written down to its fair value, with credit losses reflected in earnings. value and impact regulatory capital, together these categories did not account for a significant percentage of total assets at either failed or open commercial banks or thrifts. For example, in 2008, trading assets, nontrading assets such as nontrading derivative contracts, and trading liabilities at small failed banks ranged from 0.00 to 0.03 percent of total assets. As discussed earlier, declines in regulatory capital at failed banks were driven by rising levels of credit losses related to nonperforming loans and charge-offs of these loans. For failed commercial banks and thrifts of all sizes nationwide, credit losses, which resulted from nonperforming HFI loans, were the largest contributors to the institutions’ overall losses when compared to any other asset class. These losses had a greater negative impact on institutions’ earnings and regulatory capital levels than those recorded at fair value. During the course of our work, several state regulators and community banking association officials told us that at some small failed banks, declining collateral values of impaired collateral-dependent loans— particularly CRE and ADC loans in those areas where real estate assets prices declined severely—drove both credit losses and charge-offs and resulted in reductions to regulatory capital. Data are not publicly available to analyze the extent to which credit losses or charge-offs at the failed banks were driven by declines in the collateral values of impaired collateral-dependent CRE or ADC loans. However, state banking associations said that the magnitude of the losses was exacerbated by federal bank examiners’ classification of collateral-dependent loans and evaluation of appraisals used by banks to support impairment analysis of these loans. Federal banking regulators noted that regulatory guidance in 2009 directed examiners not to require banks to write down loans to an amount less than the loan balance solely because the value of the underlying collateral had declined and that examiners were generally not expected to challenge the appraisals obtained by banks unless they found that any underlying facts or assumptions about the appraisal were inappropriate or could support alternative assumptions. A loan loss provision is the money a bank sets aside to cover potential credit losses on loans. The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Financial Stability Forum’s Working Group on Loss Provisioning (Working Group) observed that the current accounting model for estimating credit losses is based on historical loss rates, which were low in the years before the financial crisis. Under GAAP, the accounting model for estimating credit losses is commonly referred to as an “incurred loss model” because the timing and measurement of losses are based on estimates of losses incurred as of the balance sheet date. In a 2009 speech, the Comptroller of the Currency, who was a co-chair of the Working Group, noted that in a long period of benign economic conditions, such as the years prior to the most recent downturn, historical loan loss rates would typically be low. As a result, justifying significant loan loss provisioning to increase the loan loss allowance can be difficult under the incurred loss model. country had identified multiple concerns with examiner treatment of CRE loans and related issues.