coming out of recession is not an overnight process but the banks based in St. Louis are well on their way to it. they are not completely over their recessionary phase and loss but according to the market observers and analysts there has been a tremendous progress and after all, the banks are heading in the right direction and will be soon able to forget their recessionary past.
78 banks together churned in a profit of $15 million, profit though small in nature but still of much importance to the sector because together these banks had reported a loss of $433 million in 2009. So a profit in the first quarter of the year is a good sign. Still, there have been loss making banks as well this quarter. Nine banks in the region lost money between January to March.
But amidst all this, if you thought that it was easy to get loan, then you are in for a slight disappointment. The loans have dropped by 9% in comparison to March, 2009 and were down 4% in comparison to December last year. The main reason behind this is not that the bankers are still averse to providing instant cash loans or they are still tight fisted. Many bankers in the region said that even the affluent businessmen and manufacturers borrow money to hoard it and not use for expansion purposes.
Optimism over the progress and steadiness of the recovery process is in place and the bankers are sure that unless another economic crisis surfaces, there will be no disruption in the process.
