Welcome to Banking Update, a roundup of articles and news from around the Internet.  Banks continue to be sued for selling defective mortgages, the Fed says a housing recovery is essential for economic recovery, Americans still believe owning a home is part of the “American dream”, banks are still engaged in risky behavior, savings rates are negative, European banks [...]

Potential losses on Bank of America’s massive $75 trillion book of risky derivative contracts has just been dumped onto the FDIC by the Federal Reserve. Derivatives, once described by Warren Buffet as “financial weapons of mass destruction” are complex contracts entered into for speculation or to hedge risks linked to a wide variety of other (derivative) financial [...]

With the European banking system tottering on the brink of collapse, nervous holders of cash have flooded the U.S. banking system with $1.2 trillion of deposits.  Panicky holders of large amounts of cash are taking advantage of a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that provides unlimited FDIC insurance coverage on noninterest-bearing transaction accounts. The Dodd-Frank Act provides [...]

October 19, 2010 – The FDIC announced today a long term Restoration Plan to return the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) to a positive balance.   The long term goal of the proposed fund management plan is to maintain a positive fund balance, even “during periods of large fund losses, and maintaining steady, predictable  assessment rates throughout economic and credit [...]

October 6, 2010 – The International Monetary Fund warned of elevated risks to global economies, real estate and the banking sector in its latest World Economic and Financial Survey. The IMF’s pessimistic outlook for economic recovery zeroed in on the risks associated with excessive levels of sovereign, commercial and household debt in an environment of slowing economic [...]

September 3, 2010 – FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, in testimony before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission discussed how future systemic risks can be better managed and reduced under provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.  Chairman Bair also said that new liquidation authority under the Act is a fundamental factor that will allow the U.S. to end the practice of “Too Big [...]

August 13, 2010 – As the scope of the recently passed Dodd-Frank Act is assessed, many are convinced that the massive new regulatory burdens imposed by the new bill  could cripple bank lending and restrain economic growth.   Despite the good intentions of Congress, the unintended consequences of a massively complex and ambiguous financial reform bill may paralyze the financial [...]

August 13, 2010 – Congress quickly passed the massive 2,300 page Dodd-Frank Act which will profoundly reshape financial markets for years to come.  Numerous federal regulators now have the immense job of writing hundreds of new regulations to enforce the bill’s sweeping mandates.  Implementing and complying with the coming tidal wave of new regulations is certain to [...]

To order to carry out its responsibilities under the recently passed Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the FDIC announced the creation of a new Office of Complex Financial Institutions (CFI) and Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection (DCP). The Dodd-Frank Act gave the FDIC authority to implement orderly liquidation of institutions designated as “systemically [...]

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law by President Obama on July 21, 2010, permanently increases the deposit insurance limit to a maximum of $250,000. Deposit insurance limits had previously been temporarily increased from $100,000 to $250,000 effective from October 3, 2008, through December 31, 2010.  The higher insurance coverage applies [...]