Zarathustra
09-17-2008, 06:40 PM
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2008/09/17/deposits_0917.ART_ART_09-17-08_C8_BKBBKM2.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101
FDIC's insurance fund slips below mandated level
Wednesday, September 17, 2008 3:17 AM
By Marcy Gordon
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Banks are not the only ones struggling in the growing financial crisis. The fund established to insure their deposits is also feeling the pinch, and the taxpayer might be the lender of last resort.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., whose insurance fund has slipped below the minimum target level set by Congress, could be forced to tap tax dollars through a Treasury Department loan if Washington Mutual Inc., the nation's largest thrift, or another struggling rival fails, economists and industry analysts said yesterday.
Eleven federally insured banks and thrifts have failed this year, including IndyMac Bank, based in Pasadena, Calif., which is by far the largest shut down by regulators.
Additional failures of large banks or savings and loan companies seem likely, and that could overwhelm the FDIC's insurance fund, said Brian Bethune, U.S. economist at consulting firm Global Insight.
"We've got a ... retail bank run forming in this country," said Christopher Whalen, senior vice president and managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday that the country's commercial banking system "is safe and sound" and that "the American people can be very, very confident about their accounts in our banking system." FDIC officials also have said that 98 percent of U.S. banks still meet standards for adequate capital.
The fund, which is marking its 75th anniversary this year, is at $45.2 billion -- the lowest level since 2003. At the same time, the number of troubled banks is at a five-year high.
FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair has not ruled out the possibility of going to the Treasury for a short-term loan at some point. But she has said she does not expect the FDIC to take the more drastic action of using a separate $30 billion credit line with the Treasury -- something that has never been done.
The FDIC's fund is currently below the minimum set by Congress in a 2006 law. The failure of IndyMac Bank in July cost $8.9 billion.
Next month, Bair plans to propose increasing the premiums paid by banks and thrifts to replenish the fund. That plan is likely to be approved by the FDIC board, which consists of her, Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan, Thrift Supervision Director John Reich and two other officials.
Bair also is considering a system in which banks with riskier portfolios would be charged higher premiums, raising the possibility that those costs could be passed on to consumers.
A Washington Mutual failure would dwarf the largest bank collapse in U.S. history -- Continental Illinois National Bank in 1984, with $33.6 billion in assets.
By comparison, WaMu and its subsidiaries had assets of $309.73 billion as of June 30 and IndyMac had $32 billion when it shut down.
Arthur Murton, director of the FDIC's insurance and research division, said that when large institutions have failed in recent years, the hit to the fund has been about 5 percent to 10 percent of the company's assets.
FDIC's insurance fund slips below mandated level
Wednesday, September 17, 2008 3:17 AM
By Marcy Gordon
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Banks are not the only ones struggling in the growing financial crisis. The fund established to insure their deposits is also feeling the pinch, and the taxpayer might be the lender of last resort.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., whose insurance fund has slipped below the minimum target level set by Congress, could be forced to tap tax dollars through a Treasury Department loan if Washington Mutual Inc., the nation's largest thrift, or another struggling rival fails, economists and industry analysts said yesterday.
Eleven federally insured banks and thrifts have failed this year, including IndyMac Bank, based in Pasadena, Calif., which is by far the largest shut down by regulators.
Additional failures of large banks or savings and loan companies seem likely, and that could overwhelm the FDIC's insurance fund, said Brian Bethune, U.S. economist at consulting firm Global Insight.
"We've got a ... retail bank run forming in this country," said Christopher Whalen, senior vice president and managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday that the country's commercial banking system "is safe and sound" and that "the American people can be very, very confident about their accounts in our banking system." FDIC officials also have said that 98 percent of U.S. banks still meet standards for adequate capital.
The fund, which is marking its 75th anniversary this year, is at $45.2 billion -- the lowest level since 2003. At the same time, the number of troubled banks is at a five-year high.
FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair has not ruled out the possibility of going to the Treasury for a short-term loan at some point. But she has said she does not expect the FDIC to take the more drastic action of using a separate $30 billion credit line with the Treasury -- something that has never been done.
The FDIC's fund is currently below the minimum set by Congress in a 2006 law. The failure of IndyMac Bank in July cost $8.9 billion.
Next month, Bair plans to propose increasing the premiums paid by banks and thrifts to replenish the fund. That plan is likely to be approved by the FDIC board, which consists of her, Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan, Thrift Supervision Director John Reich and two other officials.
Bair also is considering a system in which banks with riskier portfolios would be charged higher premiums, raising the possibility that those costs could be passed on to consumers.
A Washington Mutual failure would dwarf the largest bank collapse in U.S. history -- Continental Illinois National Bank in 1984, with $33.6 billion in assets.
By comparison, WaMu and its subsidiaries had assets of $309.73 billion as of June 30 and IndyMac had $32 billion when it shut down.
Arthur Murton, director of the FDIC's insurance and research division, said that when large institutions have failed in recent years, the hit to the fund has been about 5 percent to 10 percent of the company's assets.