Behind FDIC rules, a veteran author.

Robert F. Miailovich never figured his first job would be his only job.

But 30 years after joining the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. right out of college, he is the agency's chief regulation writer.

Mr. Miailovich (pronounced mee-AL-o-vitch) has had a hand in every regulation the FDIC has issued since 1985, when he took his current position as associate director for policy and planning.

Risk-based capital, brokered deposits, highly leveraged transactions, prompt corrective action, interest rate risk, real estate appraisals, bank audits, golden parachutes, and many more regulations have been crafted by Mr. Miailovich and the 10 people who work for him.

One of a Kind

"Bob is the sort of a guy who can sit down and write regulations for a year and come out on the other side still sane," said Jim Sexton, a partner with Bracewell & Patterson in Austin, Tex. "There are not a lot of people in the world who can do that.

"He is very organized. All this sounds pretty corny, but he likes to do things right."

Acting FDIC Chairman Andrew C. Hove Jr. agreed. "He's a valuable person at FDIC. We've dumped a lot of regulation in his lap. He really does a very thorough job."

Not everyone is so complimentary.

Some people - off the record, of course - criticize Mr. Miailovich for being too stubborn. His dry sense of humor also can make him appear flippant.

The Job Gets Done

But friends and enemies alike concur: Mr. Miailovich is a workhorse who gets the job done.

Mr. Miailovich, 54, started as an examiner, spending eight years monitoring banks in the West. Then, from 1971 to 1975, he took a management job in the FDIC'S San Francisco office. He was plucked from the field to serve as a special assistant to then-FDIC Chairman Frank Wille.

After his two-year stint, during which he oversaw failed bank deals, Mr. Miailovich moved to the supervision division, where he continued to work with problem banks.

In April 1980, the FDIC experienced its first big bank failure: First Pennsylvania, the $5 billion-asset Philadelphia bank. Mr. Miailovich considers that failure the biggest challenge of his career.

From failing banks, Mr. Miailovich in 1982 went on to run the FDIC'S applications office, where banks go for merger approvals and the like.

Then in 1985, Mr. Miailovich landed in his current job. Today, he is one of three associate directors in the supervision division.

Unlike many regulators, Mr. Miailovich doesn't hesitate to tell you what's on his mind. That can be a problem, particularly when superiors think differently.

Mr. Miailovich's boldest moment came in April 1991 when he stood to challenge then-treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady who had just concluded in a speech that overzealous bank examiners were to blame for the credit crunch.

"I knew going into that dinner that I really wanted to say something. Until I said it, I didn't know if i would have the guts," Mr. Miailovich recalled recently. "There are a few people around here who wished I hadn't said it ... but people were willing to live with me."

Mr. Miailovich, who makes about $130,000 a year, is eligible to retire at the end of this year but is not sure if he will.

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