The banking industry has emerged shaken but in some senses thriving. Last year was the second most profitable ever for the nation’s banks, according to reports filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., but it is unmistakably true that the industry is fundamentally different today than it was five years ago.

Banks are closer to pre-recession profit and lending levels, but there are fewer of them.

Banks and credit unions continue to recover, as lending expands.

Rising profits and growing loan demand, along with a decline in troubled loans, indicate that after a long five years, the banking industry might be returning to something resembling normalcy.

The nation’s banks and credit unions had their best year since 2006, as a slowly recovering economy led to modest loan growth and lower levels of nonperforming loans.

New federal data show that the number of small bank loans to business has fallen to the lowest point in more than a decade, cutting the flow of money to a sector that's usually a job-creation powerhouse.

As banks emerge from the three-year financial crisis, new competitive pressures and more regulations will force many smaller banks out of business, resulting in even more power for the largest institutions.

A three-year decline in lending continued into the first quarter of 2011, according to reports from the FDIC. Loans for real estate development and construction are down by more than half since March of 2008.

Over the past three years, the banking industry has continued to reel from the mortgage meltdown and the recession. Today, there are 11 percent fewer banks than at the end of 2007; more than 300 banks have failed since Jan. 1, 2009. Problem loans and foreclosures continue to plague the industry, with troubled assets nearly tripling since the end of 2007. In a sign of slow improvement, troubled assets fell in the fourth quarter of last year, but the number of banks on the FDIC's troubled list continues to grow and is at two-decade high.

The past three years have been harsh to banks around the country. Indications are the worst is over, but the industry still is feeling many lingering effects.

Credit unions may be but a small entity in the nation's financial world, but they are now cleaning up a multibillion dollar mess created by a handful of "corporate" credit unions that invested in mortgage-backed securities. 

The nation’s banks continued their slow return to health in the third quarter, according to reports filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The second quarter of 2010 was the best for the nation's banks since the financial crisis began nearly three years ago. But the industry, despite lower loan loss provisions and stronger earnings, still is struggling with historically high levels of troubled assets.

The bank at the center of a House ethics investigation of U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters was the weakest to receive funds from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program at the time of its rescue, according to an analysis by the Investigative Reporting Workshop.

The nation's banks keep looking for signs that they've turned the corner toward prosperity. But it's probably still too early for many to relax, according to quarterly financial reports compiled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and analyzed by the Investigative Reporting Workshop.

If America’s bankers celebrated the end of 2009 exuberantly you could hardly blame them. Data analyzed by the Investigative Reporting Workshop confirms that last year was one of the worst in memory for the industry.

Bad loans, foreclosed properties still plague many of the nation's banks.

The tide of bad loans and foreclosed properties just keeps rising at the nation's banks and credit unions. At the end of June, troubled assets at the nation's 8204 banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. totaled more than $323 billion, up from $237 billion six months ago and just $170 billion a year ago.

The recession is taking its toll on credit unions. As a group, they lost about $3.2 billion in the first quarter, with more than three quarters of institutions posting losses. Yet credit unions seem less bogged down with nonperforming loans and foreclosed property than the nation’s banks, primarily because they still have relatively small real estate and business loan portfolios.

Some things to keep in mind when reviewing this information.