Word: thrift
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...reason for raising the banking industry's fees as part of the rescue package is to ensure that they do not obtain too much of a competitive advantage over thrifts in terms of their costs of doing business. Another reason is simply to bolster the banking industry's reserve fund so that it does not run into the same problems encountered by the FSLIC. In the end, at least some of the increased costs will probably be passed along to consumers, since thrift profits are already squeezed. Said Texas Democrat Henry Gonzalez, chairman of the House Banking Committee: "The little...
...thrift industry seemed to meet the proposal with grudging acceptance but a fair amount of grumbling. Healthy S & Ls object philosophically to paying excessive cleanup costs for their fraudulent and incompetent brethren. Says Adam Jahns, chairman of Chicago's Craigin Federal Savings & Loan: "I don't think we should have to pay for serious crimes committed by others." Another complaint by S & Ls is that by combining thrift and banking supervision, the Bush plan may blur the distinction between the two and eventually remove any competitive advantage the thrifts still have, principally the ability to borrow long-term funds from...
Bankers were miffed too about being tied up with the S & Ls. The symbolic point of contention was the trusted FDIC decal that banks display prominently on their premises and in their advertising. The Administration at first told thrift owners that they would be able to display the symbol under the new plan. To many depositors, the seal represents greater safety and security than the thrift industry's own logo. Bankers therefore vociferously oppose sharing the FDIC seal, maintaining that it would be effectively tarnished if given to the thrifts and would lead to the complete merging...
When the huge cost of the cleanup hit home last week, so did a strong sentiment in favor of pursuing the fraudulent thrift owners who made off with the loot. Regulators have estimated that at least one in every four S & L failures has been the result of fraud. In fact, the Bush rescue plan proposes to give the Justice Department an additional $50 million a year for probing S & L fraud, a sum that would pay for 200 new investigators and 100 more prosecutors...
...arrive at such a sorry state? Traditionally, running a thrift was a relatively tranquil business. S & L managers used to follow what was known as the 3-6-3 rule: pay depositors 3%, lend money at 6% and tee up at the golf course by 3 p.m. When interest rates remained stable, the strategy worked well. But by the late 1970s, thrifts began steadily losing depositors to the new money-market funds, which were not covered by deposit insurance and paid higher interest rates...