This year only nine banking companies had issued trust-preferreds through Nov. 1, including four companies with under $20 billion of assets, according to data from SNL Financial LC. The smaller issuers generally had to use private placements. Volume totaled $31 billion, with the vast majority of it — $27 billion — coming in two separate deals from Citigroup Inc. in the third quarter. The first quarter had zero issuance, and the second quarter had a paltry $73.7 million. The $3 billion-asset Tompkins Financial Corp. christened the market this year, with a $15 million deal in April. Tompkins also did a second deal, for $3.55 million in May. Smaller banks used to tap this market by pooling their issues together into collateralized debt obligations. But liquidity for CDOs dried up two years ago in the wake of the subprime meltdown. This year, the risk associated with trust-preferreds has become apparent. Many of the banks that issued them began deferring payments; some of those banks failed.