With banks in the tank, deposit-insurance fund "solid"

Officials tried to shore up confidence Wednesday that the nation's banking system remains resilient enough to withstand additional hits.

"The deposit-insurance fund is solid," Ed Yingling, president and chief executive of the American Bankers Association, told CNBC. "We have been in much worse shape before."

So far this year, 11 banks have failed and another 117 are considered problematic by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

That compares with 1,500 banks and thrifts on the troubled list in the early 1990s during the savings-and-loan crisis, Yingling said.

Federal officials are working to prevent the nation's largest thrift, Seattle-based Washington Mutual, from becoming the next domino to topple in a week that has seen insurer AIG receive a bailout and investment bank Lehman Brothers fail. Earlier this month, the federal government took control of mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Read More