FDIC Sets Global Conference On Deposit Insurance's Role

How deposit insurance fits into the increasingly chaotic global banking market will be examined during a three-day conference that begins here Wednesday.

Roughly 240 senior government officials from 62 countries are expected to attend the invitation-only event hosted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

"This conference is the first to bring together deposit insurance authorities from around the world," said FDIC Chairman Donna Tanoue. "Recent developments have underscored the importance of deposit insurance when a banking system is under stress." Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers is to be the keynote speaker Wednesday, a day devoted to exploring the role government agencies should play in ensuring a country's financial stability.

Sessions scheduled for the second day are to focus on recent banking crises. Former Resolution Trust Corp. executives David C. Cooke and Lamar Kelly, among others, will discuss resolving troubled institutions and selling their assets. The final day is to look ahead at the risks supervisors face in overseeing banks that operate internationally.

Claude Rollin, a special assistant to FDIC Director Joseph H. Neely, dreamed up the conference in February 1997 on a flight back from the Ukraine where he was helping government leaders set up a deposit insurance system. The conference, he said, is to be a forum for the world's regulators to meet and share information.

"With the increased globalization of banking, perhaps we'll be in a situation where a bank fails and we're going to have to deal with these folks," Mr. Rollin said.

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