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The FDIC reported today that the situation is still grim in the nation's banking sector. The number of problem banks rose from 305 to 416 and the FDIC's deposit insurance fund fell to $10 billion from over $40 billion last year. Is your money safe?

Corus Bankshares, the parent company of Corus Bank may be taken over by an investment consortium, with the financial support of the FDIC. Corus has long offered competitive CD rates and currently has rates that are at the top of the BestCashCow rate charts. The bank may be seized by the FDIC as soon as August 6.

Caving in to the American Banker's Association, the FDIC has stipulated that the amount of loan debt it provides Ally Bank will be dependent on the deposit rates it offers. We've already seen Ally Bank lower its rates once after the ABA letter and I suspect we'll see more reductions in the future.

Promotional savings rates - especially those where the bank commits to locking a certain rate for a certain period - are a win-win.

The American Banker's Association sent a ltter to the FDIC's Sheila Bair on May 27th, requesting the agency take action to force Ally Bank to lower its rates. They claim Ally Bank is acting irresponsibly by offering above market rates. I don't see the ABA sending letters to agencies when banks raise the rates on their credit cards to usurious levels.

So here's an interesting question: how are bank profits increasing when the economy and many of the loans written by the banks are in worse shape then ever? Don't believe the numbers.

Freedom Bank of Georgia was closed yesterday by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. Northeast Georgia Bank assumed the deposits of the bank.

There were two more bank failures last Friday - Security Savings Bank of Henderson, NV and Heritage Community Bank of Glenwood, IL. These bank closings are the 15th and 16th bank failures for the year.

Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported a net loss of $26.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, a decline of $27.8 billion from the $575 million that the industry earned in the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarterly loss since 1990.

I recently opened an account with JP Morgan Chase having previously used Citibank for all of my financial needs. I am startled by how poor the

Friday the 13th saw four bank failures - Pinnacle Bank, Corn Belt Bank and Trust, Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast, Sherman County Bank - the most of any Friday so far.