Analysts are predicting that more American banks will fail, the International Herald Tribune reports. The main causes? Heaps of loan defaults and the continued slide of home prices.

As many as 150 of the nation’s 7,500 banks, particularly small and medium-size institutions, could fail in 18 months or less, financial experts are saying. The Tribune said that others might shut down branches or seek mergers. The Tribune reports:

“Everybody is drawing up lists, trying to figure out who the next bank is, No. 1, and No. 2, how many of them are there,” said Richard Bove, the banking analyst with Ladenburg Thalmann, who released a list of troubled banks over the weekend. “And No. 3, from the standpoint of Washington, how badly is it going to affect the economy?”

According to sketchily-designed-but-factually-reliable Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter, 266 lending institutions have collapsed already since late 2006.

At the same time, the government is dealing with a crisis at Fannie MaeandFreddie Mac, the two largest mortgage finance companies in the country, which secure $1.3 trillion in bank, savings and loan, and credit union assets.

The Tribune adds that a rush of earnings reports are due in coming days and weeks, and that Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and other large companies are scheduled to issue their reports this week. None of these is expected to fail, but some will likely report multibillion-dollar write-offs.

For more on why America’s financial health is such an important subject, read “Economic Crisis, Europe and the Coming Nuclear Holocaust.”