This article examines the condition of the banking industry in the United States, with an emphasis on community banks. In spite of the recent recession, the condition of the banking industry is substantially better than during the recession of 1990-91. There has been an increase in problem loans...

The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s revealed the vulnerability of some depository institutions to changes in interest rates. Since that episode, U.S. bank supervisors have placed more emphasis on monitoring the interest rate risk of commercial banks. One outcome developed by economists at...