New FDIC chief says 'chairman' is perfectly correct.

Ricki R. Tigert formally takes the oath as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. tomorrow. That's right chairman. Ms. Tigert, 49, has decided to use the male form of the word rather than chairwoman or even chairperson. She will be sworn in by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge John Minor Wisdom, for whom Ms. Tigert clerked after graduating from University of Chicago Law School. Ms. Tigert was informally sworn in Oct. 7 by FDIC secretary Robert E. Feldman.

Stephen M. Cross is taking criticism of the new Community Reinvestment Act proposal a little too personally.

During a Q&A session at the American Bankers Association's annual convention last week, the deputy comptroller for compliance management exploded at industry consultant Bert Ely.

"You're fear-mongering," Mr. Cross barked. "This is not about examiners deciding what bankers should be doing."

Mr. Ely had risen to question whether the revised proposal doesn't give examiners too great a role in defining a bank's market.

Mr. Cross said that "despite the efforts of some people to blow this out of proportion," the plan actually leaves bankers in control. "You're just making it a Big Brother problem," accused Mr. Cross.

Before Mr. Cross could say anything more, an irate banker in the audience stood up and told Mr. Cross: "I have a choice today ... I'm going to walk out of this session. I don't need this."

With that, Alfred W. Johnson of Tioga State Bank in Spencer, N.Y., left.

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