During the Great Depression, there were more than 30,000 banks in the U.S. and most of them were small. The majority of bank failures were at these small institutions, while the bigger banks weathered the economic turmoil better. Today, the opposite is true. Four large banks were responsible for half of the $26 billion in losses reported by the banking industry during the last quarter of 2008.
There are more than 7,000 community banks in the United States and the majority of these are doing just fine - with plenty of money to lend.  These banks know their customers, conform to community values and keep their assets local whenever possible.

source: Christian Science Monitor