PayThink

The FDIC's job in this instance is simply to recover as much taxpayer money as possible from a bank failure, not to right the scales of justice, a D&O insurance lawyer says.

The Bailey Building and Loan Association was one of the worst run banks in America. It would have topped the FDIC's problem bank list, if such a list had existed in 1946. In fact it almost certainly would have failed every financial test of today's regulators. The institution was poorly capitalized, its assets were concentrated in a single asset class, and it was a subprime mortgage lender. Of course, it was also a figment of Frank Capra's imagination.

Perhaps 2011 will go down as the year social media finally proved it might live up to some of the hype. So in keeping with that, I thought the best way to memorialize 2011 would be to go back and look at some of the best Twitter posts (tweets) and share them here.

I wanted to take a moment and say thank you to the Credit Union Journal team for all the valuable information you publish. Finance Center FCU has been a subscriber for years and we continually read and share your publication across our management team every week.

Obviously [Lockheed CU's] employees have no clue about what it will take to run their institution in 2013. None of these striking employees belong in the credit union industry. Let them work at the bank-that's what they're there for.

As much as I would like to offer tidings of comfort and joy, I fear that 2012 is shaping up to be the year of extreme risks. These risks may not materialize into live problems, but it is best that bankers be prepared, particularly since at least some of the rotten plums are already baked into the Christmas pudding.

Banks won't be happy that a company not subject to federal supervision is filling a void that they, as regulated institutions, were forced to leave.

Lots of bankers have lost their focus on customers, lending and costs. Instead they tune in on distractions, such as politics and regulatory policy. I don't think that's good, but let's use it to shape a strategy that gets results.

Microsoft plans an update next month to remove copies of Internet Explorer 6, an older version of its Web browser that has "more security holes than Swiss cheese," MSNBC.com reported Thursday.

Ancestry.com has removed the Social Security numbers of the deceased from its website.