Published by Statista Research Department, Feb 29, 2024
As of February 2024, the largest all-time bankruptcy in the United States remained Lehman Brothers. The New York-based investment bank had assets worth 691 billion U.S. dollars when it filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008. This event was one of the major points in the timeline of the Great Recession, as it was the first time a bank of its size had failed and had a domino effect on the global banking sector, as well as wiping almost five percent of the S&P 500 in one day.
Bank failures in the U.S.
In March 2023, for the first time since 2021, two banks collapsed in the United States. Both bank failures made the list of largest bankruptcies in terms of total assets lost: The failure of Silicon Valley Bank amounted to roughly 209 billion U.S. dollars worth of assets lost, while Signature Bank had approximately 110.4 billion U.S. dollars when it collapsed. These failures mark the second- and the third-largest bank failures in the U.S. since 2001.
Unprofitable banks in the U.S.
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank painted an alarming picture of the U.S. banking industry. In reality, however, the state of the industry was much better in 2022 than in earlier periods of economic downturns. The share of unprofitable banks, for instance, was 3.4 percent in 2022, which was an increase compared to 2021, but remained well below the share of unprofitable banks in 2020, let alone the during the global financial crisis in 2008. The share of unprofitable banks in the U.S. peaked in 2009, when almost 30 percent of all FDIC-insured commercial banks and savings institutions were unprofitable.
Largest bankruptcies in the United States as of February 2024, by assets at time of bankruptcy (in billion U.S. dollars)
| Company (date of bankruptcy) | Assets in billion U.S. dollars |
|---|---|
| Lehman Brothers (Sep 15, 2008) | 691.06 |
| Washington Mutual (Sep 26, 2008) | 327.91 |
| Silicon Valley Bank (Mar 10, 2023) | 209 |
| Signature Bank (Mar 12, 2023) | 110.4 |
| Worldcom Inc. (Jul 2, 2002) | 103.91 |
| General Motors (Jun 1, 2009) | 82.29 |
| Pacific Gas and Electric Company (Jan 14, 2019) | 71 |
| CIT Group (Nov 1, 2009) | 71 |
| Enron (Dec 2, 2001) | 65.5 |
| Conseco (Dec 17, 2002) | 61.39 |
| MF Global (Oct 31, 2011) | 41 |
| Chrysler (Apr 30, 2009) | 39.3 |
| Thornburg Mortgage (Jan 5, 2009) | 36.52 |
| Pacific Gas and Electric Company (Apr 6, 2001) | 36.15 |
| Texaco (Dec 4, 1987) | 34.94 |
| Financial Corporation of America (Sep 9, 1988) | 33.86 |
| Refco (Oct 17, 2005) | 33.33 |
| IndyMac Bancorp (Jul 31, 2008) | 32.73 |
| Global Crossing (Jan 28, 2002) | 30.19 |
| Bank of New England (Jul 1, 1991) | 29.77 |
| General Growth Properties (Apr 16, 2009) | 29.56 |
| Lyondell Chemical (Jun 1, 2009) | 27.39 |
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