Vol. 2002-3
My apologies for the enigmatic title of this Report. During the past several weeks a unusually persistent flu bug has prevented me from doing much more than scan the headlines and read the first few sentences of financial articles. I did keep brief notes on items that I thought might be worth following up at a later date. Looking at these notes now, it struck me that several, if fleshed out a bit, might constitute a report of some interest. It will be quite short of course, but I have a hunch that after last month’s tome on dual banking, brevity may be welcome.
Three items that I found especially interesting were: 1) the speech by the new FDIC Chairman, Don Powell, to the senior staff, laying out his intentions and objectives for the Corporation; 2) a scattering of reports since the beginning of the month of some rather strange bank failures; and 3) the report in the American Banker of February 19 that the U.S. Treasury was planning to resume its perennial hunt for the snark, which is to say it will try again to find a rational structure for financial regulatory agencies. Each of these subjects is covered in the following Sections I through III. Section IV wraps things up