Bankers disagree on the best way for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to treat the sale of deposits by institutions that pay premiums to both the Bank Insurance Fund and the Savings Association Insurance Fund.
The FDIC in July proposed two methods of assessing deposits sold by these so-called Oakar banks and thrifts. The interpretation is important because it affects how much 879 Oakars end up paying to the higher-cost SAIF.
The 24 comment letters submitted by the Sept. 3 deadline failed to give the agency a definitive answer.
"Community bankers are split," said Leland M. Stenehjem Jr., president of the Independent Bankers Association of America.
The first approach would continue what the FDIC does now, which is to assume that when an Oakar sells deposits, it is selling all its BIF-insured deposits first.
Under the second approach, the FDIC would assume that any sale of Oakar deposits would consist of SAIF-insured and BIF-insured funds in the same proportion as the bank's total deposits.
BankAmerica Corp. didn't say which approach it favored, but it urged the FDIC to go slowly.
John H. Huffstutler, BankAmerica senior vice president and chief regulatory counsel, asked the FDIC to delay the proposed effective date at least six months to July 1. Implementing the rule too soon will make it difficult for buyers and sellers to "efficiently price, structure, and consummate orderly transactions," he wrote.
C. Michael Collins, president and chief executive officer of Barnett Bank of Southwest Florida in Sarasota, said he didn't like either method, and criticized the agency for "trying to prop up obsolete laws and rules."
James A. Pihera, senior vice president of Nationsbank Corp., said the FDIC would be better off concentrating on the real problem: an undercapitalized thrift insurance fund.
The FDIC is pushing Congress to fix the thrift fund but released this proposal to plug a loophole that allowed H.F. Ahmanson & Co.'s Home Savings of America to move $3.3 billion from SAIF to the bank fund by selling its New York branches.
