Word: fdic
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That may lead to a standoff, given that many banks are like underwater homeowners - hoping to hold on until prices rebound. "The challenge is going to be to get the prices high enough for banks to sell," FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair told reporters the day the plan was unveiled. "The problem is going to be low pricing, not high pricing...
Geithner, his predecessor Hank Paulson, FDIC chief Sheila Bair and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke have so far used ad hoc powers to erect two of those crucial four pillars. Last fall they introduced Fed-sponsored insurance for money-market deposits, the equivalent of the FDIC insurance that exists for regular bank accounts. At the same time, they opened Fed lending to financial-services companies, making the Fed the lender of last resort for those firms, just as it is for traditional banks. In the past two days, Geithner unveiled the final two safeguards that he, Bernanke and Bair believe will...
...that are on the verge of collapse is already the most controversial new provision. Under Geithner's plan, the companies would have to be so big and in such bad shape that their insolvency could threaten the financial stability of the U.S.; if they are, the boards of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, in consultation with the Treasury Secretary, could decide either to bolster them with financial assistance or to seize them and break them into parts...
...prudent, carefully designed proposal to protect our financial system," Geithner said, arguing that if Treasury had had that power a year ago, it could have handled the collapses of Bear Stearns, Lehman and AIG very differently. Other Democrats said the power isn't so radical at all; the FDIC already takes over traditional banks on the verge of collapse - when the agency decides a firm is on the brink, it steps in, cleans it up and then turns it loose. (Read about AIG's deep impact...
...complaining, Geithner is likely to get much of the authority he wants. The power he is asking for could be invoked only under explicitly prescribed circumstances, similar to those imposed by Republicans on the FDIC in the early '90s, when it takes dramatic action in case of major banking crises. Though industry officials may gripe, Geithner's fixes are little different from the rules that traditional banks already abide by (and make plenty of profits under). And even the GOP might not have as many philosphical objections as one would expect. On the same day that Geithner rolled...