According to a Wall Street Journal article, the U.S. now has the fewest banking institutions since at least the Great Depression. Using data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the article states that there were 6,891 federally insured institutions nationwide in the third quarter of 2013, the lowest number since regulators began tracking banks in 1934.
The article states that the number of banks reached a high of more than 18,000, and the bulk of the drop was due to the loss of banks with less than $100 million in assets between 1984 and 2011. The decline in banks primarily occurred because of mergers, consolidations, and failures.
The article notes that every year from 1934 to 2009 new banks received U.S. charters, with some years seeing hundreds of new banks. But a new bank opening this week was the first startup since December 2010.
