Joe Adler

How would the insurance industry hold up under the scrutiny of a nationwide consumer protection regulator? If the partisan conflicts swirling around Capitol Hill continue to comingle reform issues, that question might be more than just hypothetical. Bickering over healthcare reform could be pushing Congress towards mandating a federal insurance charter.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is expected to finalize rules Tuesday that generally would end its temporary guarantee of unsecured debt Oct. 31.

The American Bankers Association offered its own take Tuesday for how the government should unwind systemically large firms.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s plan to require banks to prepay three years' worth of premiums appears designed to ensure the agency does not repeat the fallout from the last time the government took dramatic steps to rebuild federal reserves.

In the second deal using a new system for failed-bank asset sales, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said late Tuesday that four investors will receive FDIC financing to acquire a piece of Corus Bank.

Though the FDIC said it would grant distressed institutions a waiver from a plan forcing all banks to prepay three years' worth of premiums, few are expected to get one, observers said.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said the government should consider limiting payments to secured creditors of failed holding companies.

Dorothy Bridges is as prepared for downturns as they come. But the head of the Washington, D.C.-based community development lender City First Bank, and one of a few black women to run a U.S. bank, faces a difficult test.

Although Platinum Community Bank was troubled before it was bought by the mortgage lender Taylor, Bean and Whitaker Mortgage Corp. last year, questions are growing about whether the parent company caused the downfall of its subsidiary — and why regulators let it happen.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Tuesday said the DIF is headed to insolvency and will stay there for at least three years. Rather than rebuild it immediately to the statutory 1.15% reserve level, the FDIC plans to meet its liquidity needs by raising $45 billion from banks' prepaying the next few years' worth of premiums.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. staff recommended at a meeting Tuesday that the agency require banks to prepay three years' worth of premiums, giving it an additional $45 billion to deal with rising bank failures.

At an FDIC board meeting Tuesday, Bair is expected to advocate rebuilding the Deposit Insurance Fund by asking banks to prepay three years worth of premiums — which delays a hit to bank earnings while immediately boosting the agency's reserves.

The federal banking regulatory agencies on Friday warned about "correspondent concentration risk," which generally arises when an institution's credit exposure to one source is greater than 25% of its Tier 1 capital.

ICBA Now on iTunesSome may view the financial crisis as a pile of lemons, but the Independent Community Bankers of America appears determined to make lemonade by using it to gain leverage over the largest banks.

Regulators closed the $2 billion-asset Georgian Bank in Atlanta on Friday, the industry's 95th failure of the year. Despite its relatively small size, regulators estimated it would take a heavy toll on the Deposit Insurance Fund, costing $892 million.

Regulators closed the $2 billion-asset Georgian Bank in Atlanta on Friday, the industry's 95th failure of the year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will meet Tuesday to discuss a much-awaited plan for bolstering its reserves.

A rare report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s watchdog said that the agency could have more actively exercised backup authority over IndyMac Bank, which collapsed last year in one of the largest failures ever.

The failures of $2.7 billion-asset Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co. and $493 million-asset Irwin Union Bank were estimated to cost the Deposit Insurance Fund a total of $850 million.

WASHINGTON — Under pressure from lawmakers not to charge banks another special assessment, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said the agency would consider other alternatives — including some obscure ones — before it decides to act.