More than two-thirds of all banks in a nine-state Midwest region could suffer substantial losses as a result of the summer flooding.
Losses could total $209 billion in flood-stricken areas designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to the consultant and data service agency Veribanc.
FEMA estimates that with only 10% of those in the region required to have flood insurance actually carrying it, the 2,917 institutions in the stricken region almost certainly will face large increases of subperfoming and nonperforming loans.
Banks in Illinois face the hardest monetary hit. The state has 489 of 1,009 banks in the flood-struckzone. Their loans, totaling more than $80 billion, represent 76.29% of all mortgages in the state.
Although all of Iowa's 536 banks and all its home loans were affected, the total potential of nearly $20 billion is substantially lower than Illinois'.
Agriculture loans not secured by real estate in the target area. Veribanc said, total $12.2 billion. This amount represents 73% of all non-real estate secured loans to farmers in the area and 34% of all such loans in the United States.
