CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Amid the nearly steady stream of bad news about banks, many consumers are likely wondering if any bank is really safe.

Those companies that did not go heavily into the subprime mortgage market are generally in better shape. But financial institutions of all sizes are nonetheless facing problems with souring debt in a weak economy, even if they haven't been hit as hard as Wachovia Corp. or IndyMac Bancorp Inc., which was taken over by the government last Friday.

Even so, earnings reports and an analyst's assessment of Wachovia yesterday showed that financial companies are still suffering credit losses — and that portends more bad news as more second-quarter bank results come out.

Yet analysts don't see consumers fleeing en masse from their current banks in search of safety elsewhere. IndyMac customers were lining up for their money despite government assurances it is safe, but so far that seems to be an isolated case.

"Yes, there was a bank failure. Yes, there was a lot of people wanting to get their money. But I don't think there is any sort of distrust in our banking system," said Keefe Bruyette & Woods analyst Jefferson Harralson. "Some banks, as it is right now, are just more risky than others."

Bart Narter, senior analyst at Celent, a Boston-based financial research and consulting firm said, "If people pull out their money in one bank, they will put it in another bank."

Wall Street, however, is considerably more anxious, and it continued pummeling bank stocks Monday after a run on IndyMac led to its becoming the largest regulated thrift to fail. Shares of U.S. banks and financial companies also swooned on concern that the government's plan to shore up mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which hold or guarantee more than $5 trillion in mortgages, might not be enough to keep them from failing.

Some bank stocks recovered ground yesterday as investors calmed down somewhat, but it likely wouldn't take much bad news to get the selling momentum rising again.

Analysts have cited certain banks, including Washington Mutual Inc. and National City Corp., as being in trouble because of their exposure to failed mortgages.

The size of a bank isn't necessarily a factor in how well it's doing — banks of all sizes made bad bets on subprime and other risky mortgages.