Three more oversight reports released last week criticized the supervision of failed banks.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s inspector general evaluated the March failures of the $325 million-asset FirstBank Financial Services in McDonough, Ga., and the $262 million-asset Corn Belt Bank and Trust Co. in Pittsfield, Ill., and the February failure of the $127 million-asset Sherman County Bank in Loup City, Neb.
In all three reports, the FDIC's watchdog said that while the agency provided regular supervision of the institutions, its actions could have been timelier to address problems.
In the case of Corn Belt, the inspector general "concluded that more proactive supervisory action may have influenced" the bank's "board and management to constrain its excessive risk taking and to take more timely and effective action in response to examiner concerns."
The reports, which are required by law whenever a failure causes a "material loss" to the Deposit Insurance Fund, are among many similar critiques of the regulators' handling of troubled institutions that ultimately collapsed.
Virtually all of the 25 material-loss reviews issued this year have found flaws with the agencies' performance.
In response letters to the reports, Sandra Thompson, the FDIC's supervision director, noted areas where the agency's supervision could improve.
