Which Regional Banks Are Accruing Interest On 'Bad Debt'?

The graph below was produced by Capital Market Labs.

The regional banking system in the U.S. presents some very interesting investment vehicles. It also holds some of the riskiest banks traded on U.S. exchanges.

Let's look at all regional banks in North America between $1 billion and $20 billion in market cap, and chart total assets on the x-axis and loans that are 90 days past due (and accruing interest) on the y-axis.

So, what appears?

A group of regional banks that have lower asset bases, but rather high levels of "bad debt" that's still accruing interest on the balance sheet.

While there are some strongly-positioned regional banks like SVB Financial Group SIVB and First Republic Bank FRC, there are also some...not so strongly-positioned banks.

Keep in mind that if these loans have to be written down, so will the accrued interest -- a double whammy.

Ophir Gottlieb can be found on Twitter @ophirgottlieb.