Word: bair
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...good times but can become pivotal in a crisis. When that happens, the real fighting begins. In this case, the war between small depositors who have managed their money carefully and large, institutional banks that have gambled and lost is playing out across the American economy. So far, Bair has worried about Main Street while working overtime to limit the damage on Wall Street. In the past month, she's overseen the "resolution" (meaning, in a banker's lexicon, the "failure and sale") of the country's sixth largest bank, Washington Mutual, and helped negotiate the forced sale of superregional...
...Bair, a former aide to Bob Dole, had little idea what was in store when she took over the FDIC back in sleepy 2006. "They said this was going to be 9 to 5 and just an easy portfolio of issues," she said. But she quickly learned how far underwriting standards had fallen. A year ago, she rang the alarm with mortgage lenders and said they were not doing enough to help borrowers meet their house payments. "I thought," she recalled, "they were going to throw tomatoes...
...crisis has deepened, Bair has insisted that the FDIC's coffers need support. Currently the agency has $45 billion in reserves. That may not seem like much next to the $700 billion Paulson just got from Congress, but Bair notes that in the past, the FDIC hasn't needed much. Even at the peak of the savings-and-loan crisis in the late 1980s, when thrifts were closing at the rate of one a day, the FDIC maintained its perfect record of returning every penny of every insured depositor's money, and Bair has preserved that record through 15 bank...
...demands for more money suggest that, as Bair told TIME, "more banks will fail." The FDIC's list of troubled banks jumped from 90 to 117 in the second quarter and will surely grow again. Bair is worried about all the new responsibilities her agency is taking on. The new rescue plan requires the FDIC to guarantee not just the new lending by banks but also unlimited deposits in special accounts used primarily by small businesses for things like payroll. Little wonder Bair is cautious: the new program is expected to cover $1.9 trillion, a stunning 42% increase in total...
Some familiar with the internal battles say Bair is too focused on the security of her own agency. "When the President says we're facing a systemic problem, should you really worry that you're not going to get your fund topped up by Congress?" asks one. But Bair knows that her chief role is to reassure everyday investors. "Your money is safe in the bank if it's FDIC-insured," she says. That's good. Because in the coming months, there may be many more modern-day Lydia Lobsigers...