The State of Our Local Banks

The American University School of Communications has a tool called The Bank Tracker as part of its Investigative Reporting Workshop. The Bank Tracker allows a visitor to study the health of particular banks or banks headquartered in particular towns. None of our local banks are on the brink of collapse, based on the Bank Tracker's troubled assets ratio calculations, but there are troubling signs of stress just the same. Here's what I learned about some of the banks you may be using in our area:

• Bank of America: This bank's total troubled assets nearly quadrupled and its troubled asset ratio more than doubled between September 2008 and September 2009. The bank's ownership of property doubled during the same period, non-accruing loans tripled, loans 90 days past due quintupled, and profits dropped 25%. But somehow deposits, capital, and reserves went up during the period. The bank corporation briefly borrowed TARP monies within the period but paid them back before they could affect the above annualized statistics.
• Community Partners Bancorp, based out of Middletown, owes $9 million in TARP monies. The corporation owns Two River Community Bank, based in Middletown, and The Town Bank, based in Westfield. Two River's troubled assets rose from $1 million to $20 million between September 2008 and September 2009. Its non-accruing loans rose 12 times to over $16 million and loans over 90 days past due went from $0 to $2.8 million. The bank lost $5 million during the period. Somehow assets, deposits, and reserves rose during the period.
• PNC Financial Services Group Inc, based in Pittsburgh, PA, owes nearly $7.6 billion in TARP monies. The corporation owns PNC Bank, also based in Pittsburgh. The bank's troubled assets nearly tripled to $2.8 billion and its troubled asset ratio more than doubled between September 2008 and September 2009.  Non-accruing loans nearly tripled, loan loss provisions doubled, and loans more than 90 days past due were up 45%. Profits nearly halved during the period. Assets, deposits, capital, and reserves all went up slightly.
• JPMorgan Chase and Co of New York owns a number of banks, including Chase Bank USA based in Newark, DE. Chase Bank's total troubled assets doubled and it wrote off $7.2 billion in loans during the September 2008 to September 2009 period. The bank lost $426 million during the period. Deposits, capital, and reserves all went up. JPMorgan Chase borrowed $25 billion in TARP monies but paid them back within the reporting period.