Sheila Bair

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US Banks Hit Lowest Number Since Depression

Pennsylvania sees country's first startup since 2010

(Newser) - There are currently 6,891 banks in the US—the fewest since 1934, when the federal government started keeping records. The figure is down from about 18,000 in the mid-1980s, and it's largely because small banks have been disappearing, the Wall Street Journal reports. Between 1984 and 2011,...

Dear Fellow Republicans, Income Gap Is Un-American

Sheila Bair: Size of disparity defies GOP principles, too

(Newser) - Sheila Bair describes herself as "a capitalist and a lifelong Republican," and she thinks a reasonable level of income inequality makes for a healthy economy. But the current disparity between the uber-rich and the rest of us is ridiculous, writes the former FDIC chair in the New York ...

Sheila Bair to Leave FDIC in July

Chair weathered financial crisis, oversaw closure of 350-plus banks

(Newser) - Sheila Bair is stepping down as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. this summer, ending a five-year term in which she helped craft the government's response to the 2008 financial crisis. The FDIC says Bair will leave her post as one of the government's top bank regulators...

Lending Falls at Fastest Rate Since 1942

Boatload of bank failures likely in 2010

(Newser) - Banks tightened credit last year at what the Wall Street Journal calls an “epic pace,” recording their biggest full-year decline in loans outstanding in 67 years. The figure comes from a new FDIC report that paints the picture of a banking industry that, apart from a few top-tier...

Quarter of US Households Have Limited Bank Access

Minorities, low-income families hit hardest

(Newser) - A quarter of US households have little or no access to banks—relying instead on nontraditional services such as check-cashing shops, pawn shops, or payday loans, and often paying exorbitant interest rates. The first comprehensive survey of its kind by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. showed that 71% of families...

Danger Signs Ignored at Failed Banks

Regulators knew loans were toxic but didn't act

(Newser) - "Post-mortems" on banks that failed during the financial crisis are exposing serious misjudgment by state and federal regulators. Inspectors-general are finding at bank after bank that regulators were aware that risky and potentially toxic loans were being made while the economy was booming, but failed to take action, the...

As Failures Mount, FDIC Asks Banks to Prepay

Regulator wants cash upfront through 2013 to avoid emergency credit line

(Newser) - The FDIC is set to ask banks to prepay three years of fees to replenish its coffers after a wave of bank failures, estimated to cost as much as $100 billion. Banks would be asked to prepay $45 billion of their quarterly assessments, but they wouldn't have to report the...

FDIC May Borrow Billions From Banks
FDIC May Borrow Billions From Banks
Sep 22, 2009 6:37 AM CDT

FDIC May Borrow Billions From Banks

Tapped-out deposit insurance fund mulls reverse bailout

(Newser) - After a year of government bailing out the banks, now the banks may bail out the government. Regulators are considering a plan for the FDIC, which protects bank depositors, to borrow billions from healthy banks, enabling the fund to refresh its accounts after a wave of bank failures. Banks and...

FDIC Fund Falls to $10.4B as Banks Struggle

Government will likely have to charge bank fees to replenish it

(Newser) - The FDIC's fund for protecting bank deposits fell in June to just $10.4 billion—the lowest balance since the savings and loan crisis—all but ensuring that the government will have to levy new fees on banks to replenish it, the Wall Street Journal reports. The fund topped $45....

World's Most Powerful Women
 World's Most Powerful Women 
glossies
Aug 19, 2009 9:54 PM CDT

World's Most Powerful Women

(Newser) - German leader Angela Merkel keeps her spot as the world's most powerful woman for the fourth straight year on the annual Forbes list. Other notables in the top 100: Michelle Obama debuts at 40, just ahead of Oprah (41) and Queen Elizabeth (42). Hillary Clinton is 36, down from 28...

FDIC Chief Seeks Limits on 'Eye-Popping' Banker Pay

(Newser) - The big banks should rein in the "eye-popping" salaries they pay top execs and shift to a more principles-based rewards system, FDIC chief Sheila Bair tells Bloomberg. Bair, along with House Democrats and New York's attorney general, says if the banks don't change their ways, regulators should set...

Geithner Flips Out, Tongue-Lashes Regulators

(Newser) - The heat is apparently getting to Tim Geithner. At a meeting last week with high-level financial regulators, the treasury secretary indulged in a potty-mouthed diatribe about delays in the administration's highly touted plan to overhaul the regulatory system, declaring, "enough is enough," the Wall Street Journal reports....

FDIC May Ditch Public-Private Bad-Assets Plan

Banks in better shape; buyers and sellers remain reluctant

(Newser) - The government may scale back or put on hold parts of its controversial, slow-starting plan to get toxic assets off banks’ books, the Wall Street Journal reports. With both buyers and sellers expressing reluctance, and banks looking healthier, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp will likely delay next month’s scheduled...

Some Bank Bosses Face Axe: FDIC Chief

After feds' stress tests comes 'evaluation process,' Bair says

(Newser) - An “evaluation process” following banks’ stress tests will lead to the sacking of some execs, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chair Sheila Bair tells Bloomberg. “Management needs to be evaluated,” she noted. “Have they been doing a good job? Are there people who can do a better...

Banks Fall; Dow Slides 122
 Banks Fall; Dow Slides 122 
MARKETS
Mar 20, 2009 3:20 PM CDT

Banks Fall; Dow Slides 122

But indices lock in first two-week winning streak in nearly a year

(Newser) - Stocks fell today but managed to lock in the first two consecutive weeks of gains since May 2008, the Wall Street Journal reports. Comments from FDIC chair Sheila Bair that she expects bank failures to drain her agency sank financials, with the broader market following suit. The Dow dropped 122....

'Bad Bank' for Toxic Assets Among Feds' TARP Options

Paulson, Bair show support creating federally sponsored institution

(Newser) - Support is growing for the latest proposed use of bailout funds: a federally sponsored “bad bank” to purchase toxic assets from troubled financial institutions, Bloomberg reports. “A lot of work has been done on an aggregator bank,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said today; FDIC chief Sheila Bair...

Geithner Wants to Oust FDIC Chief Bair

'Independent actor' in crisis worries Obama's Treasury nominee

(Newser) - If Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner has his way, Barack Obama will show FDIC chief Sheila Bair the door, Bloomberg reports. Geithner, who has battled Bair over emergency measures like the Citigroup rescue, says she isn’t a team player, and is concerned more with her agency than the broader economy....

FDIC Pushes Plan to Ease Mortgage Payments

Bush camp opposes using bailout funds

(Newser) - Officials at the FDIC are butting heads with the Bush administration over the bailout once again, yesterday outlining a plan to prevent 1.5 million foreclosures in the coming year by having banks sharply reduce monthly payments on mortgages, the Washington Post reports. The government would guarantee half the losses...

FDIC's Bair Tops Women to Watch List

Corporate world remains male dominated, but that, too, is changing

(Newser) - While two of Wall Street's top women—Morgan Stanley’s Zoe Cruz and Citigroup’s Sallie Krawcheck—fell from grace this year, the global economic storm has pushed several others, like the FDIC’s Sheila Bair and Bank of America’s Barbara Desoer to the top of the Wall Street ...

Feds Warming to $40B Homeowner Bailout

Plan would give banks an incentive to rework troubled mortgages

(Newser) - Homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages would get help from the federal government under a $40 billion plan FDIC Chair Sheila Bair is expected to unveil today, reports the Wall Street Journal. Bair’s initiative, which would offer banks financial incentives to rework troubled mortgages into more affordable ones, is...

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