Capital Briefs: Banks Not Immune to Slump, FDIC Says

Bankers should not assume that fee income and improved risk management will inoculate them from economic downturns, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. warned Monday.

Writing in its fourth-quarter regional economic outlooks, the agency said a cooling of the population boom in the West could reduce demand for new building. Banks, particularly small ones in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and other large western cities, have a heavy concentration of construction and commercial real estate loans, it noted.

Also, the average age of farmers is rising, meaning agricultural banks in the Midwest face a declining pool of loan applicants. Also, farmers may move after retirement, draining deposits from community banks, the FDIC said in the reports, which are prepared for each of its eight regions.