Big loan losses could hit $53 billion

Banks, hedge funds, insurance companies and pension funds could face an additional $53 billion in large loan losses according to the annual Shared National Credit Review released Thursday. The examiners considered loans of at least $20 million and underwritten by three or more banks to finance commercial real-estate projects, corporate buyouts and other big ticket items.

This Shared National Credit exam is conducted yearly by four federal bank regulatory agencies. The number of loans tagged as "substandard," "doubtful" or "loss" nearly tripled to $447 billion, or 15.5 percent of the total loans reviewed. That's up from 5.8 percent last year.