Regulators are watching banks on the brink

WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- U.S. regulators and investors are keeping an eye on a list of U.S. banks that could be on the brink of collapse, financial analysts said.

The focus on banks sharpened Friday after regulators seized control of California lender IndyMac Bank, a spinoff of Countrywide Financial Corp. worth $32 billion, The New York Times reported.

The U.S. Treasury Department also announced a plan Sunday to extend $300 billion in credit to the Federal Loan Mortgage Corp. and the Federal National Mortgage Association, two huge lenders that could default on $1.3 trillion in securities owned by various banks.

"Everybody is drawing up lists, trying to figure out who the next bank is, No. 1; and No. 2, how many of them are there," Richard Bove, a banking analyst with Ladenburg Thalmann, told the Times.

Estimates of 150 banks nearing failure fall short of the banking crisis of the early 1990s, when more than 1,000 failed costing taxpayers about $125 billion, the Times reported.

Six banks have failed this year with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., worried about 90 as of this spring, the Times reported.