Capital Briefs: FDIC Asserts Its Right to CAEL Acronym

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. told Bank Rate Monitor to stop using the term "CAEL" on its Web site. In a Sept. 4 letter, the agency said it was concerned that visitors to the site would confuse it with the FDIC's ratings measuring a bank's capital, asset quality, earnings, and liquidity.

The FDIC's CAEL ratings are based in part on confidential examination data, while Bank Rate Monitor's ratings are based exclusively on public data. William P. Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Bank Rate Monitor, said he was surprised by the FDIC's complaint. "We were certainly aware that Camel was an acronym adopted by the FDIC, but we did not know that the CAEL was one."

Bank Rate Monitor's lawyers are considering the matter, but as of Wednesday the company's Web site was still using the CAEL acronym.

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