Mar. 29--Ailing financial giants such as Citigroup, Bank of America and AIG have drawn most of the attention as the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression grinds on.

But several of Washington's community banks also are clearly straining under the weight of the crisis, a Seattle Times analysis shows.

At least a dozen of the 52 Washington-based banks examined are carrying heavy loads of past-due loans, defaults and foreclosed properties relative to their financial resources. Many of these banks have set aside relatively little cash to cover problem loans, the analysis shows.

And even the relatively healthy banks are under more pressure than they were a year ago.

Among the symptoms of serious trouble at local banks, according to year-end data from financial reports filed with federal regulators:

--More than a third of Bremerton-based Westsound Bank's assets aren't generating any revenue.

--Anchor Mutual Savings Bank, of Aberdeen, had $64.2 million in past-due loans at the end of 2008, but just $8.3 million set aside in its bad-loan fund.

--Horizon Bank, of Bellingham, charged off $19.6 million in bad loans last year, more than 100 times what it charged off in 2007.

--Earlier this month, Evergreen Bank of Seattle and City Bank of Lynnwood said reviews of their loan and property portfolios had prompted them to revise downward their already disappointing 2008 financial results.

--And Friday, the FDIC disclosed that it's given Venture Bank, of Lacey, a deadline to raise new capital or find a buyer.

The chart "Three signs of trouble," uses three different gauges of a bank's financial health to rank the institutions with the poorest scores. Full results for all 52 banks, as well as two additional measures for each, are listed in the interactive chart "Compare Washington's banks."

Of course, no ratio, or even a collection of them, can substitute for detailed analysis of a bank's particular situation.

"The challenges facing the banking industry are extremely complex and simply cannot be boiled down to several ratios," said Terry Peterson, chief executive of WSB Financial Group, Westsound Bank's parent.

And by next month, when most banks will report data for their first fiscal quarter, it's possible that some will be in better shape -- especially those that have received cash injections from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

Pat Fahey, CEO of Everett-based Frontier Financial, said the year-end numbers don't reflect the progress his company's subsidiary, Frontier Bank, has made in cleaning up its balance sheet.

"There's no question we have our credit issues, as does almost everybody," Fahey said. "But we have been very aggressive in provisioning for loan losses, identifying problem loans and putting them into the nonperforming category, and charging them off."

Conrad Hanson, CEO of City Bank of Lynnwood -- which last year reported the first annual loss in its 34-year history -- said that as mortgage rates have come down, the bank has been renegotiating delinquent loans and clearing out its bulging inventory of foreclosed houses.

"We've been through a lot of (financial) storms, but this one is the granddaddy of them all," Hanson said. Nonetheless, he added, "we are fairly confident that, as rugged as this is, we're going to come out the other end."

Those banks whose situations don't soon improve may have to take steps that will hit shareholders, employees and would-be borrowers in the wallet.