One West Bank, newly chartered in early 2009, is the banking industry’s biggest success story. At a time when many banks are failing or struggling with nonperforming loans and slow growth, One West has earned almost $2 billion in profits for its founders by acquiring three failed banks, including giant IndyMac Bank  which failed in 2008. One West Bank’s phenomenal [...]

July 14, 2010 – Banking regulators agreed to give the FDIC expanded authority to conduct examinations of insured depository institutions that the FDIC does not directly supervise, under a new memorandum of understanding (MOU).  The FDIC’s position is that it should have more than “backup authority” and be allowed to take a more active on-site presence in [...]

Banking Failures in Texas, California, Illinois and Florida Bring 2010 Total To 20 Regulators continued their ritual of Friday night bank closings, shuttering 4 more banks across the country.   The four failed banks had total assets of $4.2 billion and total deposits of $3.4 billion.  The cost to the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) for this week’s bank failures  is estimated [...]

The most expensive banking failure in U.S. history was the closure of IndyMac Bank in July 2008.   The original estimated loss to the FDIC of $8.9 billion  has recently been increased to $10.7 billion or 33% of IndyMac’s assets at the time of closure.  The story of how IndyMac Bank was allowed by regulators to pursue its reckless strategy of rapid asset growth and risky [...]