Sheila Bair Essay

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How the Chairwomen Conquered All Obstacles to Save FDIC and Banks--Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself by Sheila Bair Sheila Bair, as the ex-chairwomen of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, took actions to solve problems in F.D.I.C. and the crisis even though she conquered all obstacles from many different aspects. As we all know what happened in the summer of 2008, many banks and industries went to bankruptcy and the Wall Street and the whole world`s economies faced the financial crisis. Time between 2006 and 2008 should be the Golden Age of American financial industry, however, some larger banks went downhill due to some deregulations and other avoidable problems. In 2006,…show more content…
Banks focused mainly on making profits rather than regulations, so they did not pay premium for F.D.I.C. when they were in good time, then they suffered in bad time that they could not pay back. Bair asked the banks to pay premium and fund building. Basel II advocated banks to self-regulated, which made banks keep a low capital, thus Ms. Bair disagreed with Basel II and later facts of deeper crisis proved she was right. With regarding to bailout by several banks, Ms. Bair held different views from Geithner`s. She thought banks should spend much effort to make modification and restructuring of loans so that the public could benefit, rather than only bailout to self-help. Loan restructuring is "a time-tested tool used in the banking industry to minimize losses when a borrower runs into trouble". In Ms. Bair`s opinion, she not only considered about banks` profits, but also concerned about homeowners` interests. Finally, legislature passed the financial reform bill was passed, which would raised minimum reserve requirements in F.D.I.C. and helped government to regulate banks and homeowners. These agreements not only strictly regulated banks, but also restructure home loans and take care of investors`
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