There were 860 financial institutions that the FDIC considered to be troubled during the third quarter, up from 829 during the previous three months, according to data released by the agency today.

The agency insured 7,750 institutions during the third quarter, compared to 7,830 during the second quarter.

The FDIC said it is the largest number of problem institutions since March 31, 1993 when there were 928. Total assets of problem institutions declined for the second quarter in a row, from $403.2 billion to $379.2 billion.

Overall, the aggregate profit of instructions insured by the FDIC was $14.5 billion during the third quarter, compared with $21.6 billion during the second quarter and $2 billion during the third quarter of 2009. The agency said much of the drop from the second to the third quarter was the result of a charge off by Bank of America.

"The industry continues making progress in recovering from the financial crisis. Credit performance has been improving, and we remain cautiously optimistic about the outlook," FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair said in a statement.