The regulators have shut down four banks. The list includes Advanta Bank Corp. along with three other lenders in Georgia.

With this the number of closed banks for this year has reached 37.

Advanta, which is owned by bankrupt credit-card issuer, Advanta was closed by the Utah regulator after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. could not find a buyer for it. Now, FDIC has been named as the receiver.

Besides this, Appalachian Community Bank (ACB) of Georgia along with lenders in Minnesota, Alabama and Ohio were closed. As on the date of closing, ACB had $ 1 billion in assets.

Experts believe that most of these defaults are the effects of the real estate collapse and not the cause of it. Since the commercial real estate has not been doing well even now, many more banks in Washington are expected to collapse.

In the first three months of this year four banks have been seized in Washington alone.

Lenders have collapsed fastest in 17 years. No wonder then that S&P and Moody's have both maintained a negative outlook for the financial sector.