Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
FDIC
Agency overview
Formed	June 16, 1933
Jurisdiction	Federal government of the United States
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Employees	5,381 (2009)[1]
Agency executive	Martin J. Gruenberg, Acting Chairman
Website
www.fdic.gov

The FDIC’s satellite campus in Arlington, Virginia, is home to many administrative and support functions, though the most senior officials work at the main building in Washington

Bank sign indicating the original insurance limit offered by the FDIC of $2,500 in 1934.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a United States government corporation created by the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, up to $250,000 per depositor per bank as of January 2012. As of November 18, 2010 (2010 -11-18)^[update], the FDIC insured deposits at 7,723 institutions.^[2] The FDIC also examines and supervises certain financial institutions for safety and soundness, performs certain consumer-protection functions, and manages banks in receiverships (failed banks).

Insured institutions are required to place signs at their place of business stating that "deposits are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government."^[3] Since the start of FDIC insurance on January 1, 1934, no depositor has lost any insured funds as a result of a failure.^[4]

Board of directors[link]

The Board of Directors of the FDIC is the governing body of the FDIC. The board is composed of five members, three appointed by the president of the United States with the consent of the United States Senate and two ex officio members. The three appointed members each serve six year terms. No more than three members of the board may be of the same political affiliation. The president, with the consent of the Senate, also designates one of the appointed members as chairman of the board, to serve a five-year term, and one of the appointed members as vice chairman of the board, to also serve a five-year term.

As of April 16, 2012, the members of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation were:

• Martin J. Gruenberg - Acting Chairman of the Board
• Thomas M. Hoenig
• Jeremiah O. Norton
• Thomas J. Curry - Comptroller of the Currency
• Richard Cordray - Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau^[5]

History[link]

Inception[link]

During the 1930s, the U.S. and the rest of the world experienced a severe economic contraction that is now called the Great Depression. In the U.S. during the height of the Great Depression, the official unemployment rate was 25% and the stock market had declined 75% since 1929. Bank runs were common because there was not insurance on deposits at banks, banks kept only a fraction of deposits in reserve, and customers ran the risk of losing the money that they had deposited if their bank failed.^[6]

On June 16, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Banking Act of 1933. This legislation:^[6]

• Established the FDIC as a temporary government corporation
• Gave the FDIC authority to provide deposit insurance to banks
• Gave the FDIC the authority to regulate and supervise state non-member banks
• Funded the FDIC with initial loans of $289 million through the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve
• Extended federal oversight to all commercial banks for the first time
• Separated commercial and investment banking (Glass–Steagall Act)
• Prohibited banks from paying interest on checking accounts
• Allowed national banks to branch statewide, if allowed by state law.

Historical insurance limits[link]

• 1934 - $2,500
• 1935 - $5,000
• 1950 - $10,000
• 1966 - $15,000
• 1969 - $20,000
• 1974 - $40,000
• 1980 - $100,000
• 2008 - $250,000

The temporary increase in 2008 of the insurance limit to $250,000 was set to expire on 31 December 2013. However, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (P.L.111-203), which was signed into law on July 21, 2010, made the $250,000 insurance limit permanent.^[7] In addition, the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 (P.L.109-171) allows for the boards of the FDIC and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) to consider inflation and other factors every five years beginning in 2010 and, if warranted, to adjust the amounts under a specified formula.^[8][9]

S&L and bank crisis of the 1980s[link]

Federal deposit insurance received its first large-scale test in the late 1980s and early 1990s during the savings and loan crisis (which also affected commercial banks and savings banks).

The brunt of the crisis fell upon a parallel institution, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC), created to insure savings and loan (S&L) institutions (S&Ls, also called thrifts). Due to a confluence of events, much of the S&L industry was insolvent, and many large banks were in trouble as well. The FSLIC became insolvent and merged into the FDIC. Supervision of thrifts became the responsibility of a new agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision. (Credit unions remained insured by the National Credit Union Administration.) The primary legislative responses to the crisis were the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (FDICIA).

This crisis cost taxpayers an estimated $150 billion to resolve.

2008–2010 Financial crisis[link]

2008[link]

As a result of the financial crisis in 2008, twenty-five U.S. banks became insolvent and were taken over by the FDIC.^[10] However, during that year, the largest bank failure in terms of dollar value occurred on September 26, 2008, when Washington Mutual experienced a 10-day bank run on its deposits.^[11][12]

2009[link]

On July 31, 2009, the FDIC launched its Legacy Loans Program (LLP). This initiative is aimed at helping banks rid their balance sheets of toxic assets so they can raise new capital and increase lending.^[13]

On August 14, 2009, Bloomberg reported that more than 150 publicly traded U.S. lenders had nonperforming loans above 5% of their total holdings. This is important because former regulators say that this is the level that can wipe out a bank’s equity and threaten its survival. While this ratio does not always lead to bank failures if the banks in question have raised additional capital and have properly established reserves for the bad debt, it is an important indicator for future FDIC activity.^[14]

On August 21, 2009, the second largest bank, Guaranty Bank, in Texas, became insolvent and was taken over by BBVA Compass, the U.S. division of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, the second-largest bank in Spain. This was the first foreign company to buy a failed bank during the credit crisis of 2008 and 2009. In, addition, the FDIC agreed to share losses with BBVA on about $11 billion of Guaranty Bank’s loans and other assets.^[15] This transaction alone cost the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund $3 billion.

On August 27, 2009, the FDIC increased the number of troubled banks to 416 in the second quarter. That number compares to 305 just three months earlier.^[16] At the end of the third quarter, that number jumped to 552.^[17]

At the close of 2009, a total of 140 banks had become insolvent.^[18] This is the largest number of bank failures in a year since 1992, when 179 institutions failed.^[19]

2010[link]

On February 23, 2010, FDIC chairman Sheila Bair warned that the number of failures in 2010 could surpass the 140 banks that were seized in 2009. Commercial real estate overexposure was deemed the most serious threat to banks in 2010.^[18]

On April 30, 2010, the FDIC used emergency powers to seize three banks in Puerto Rico at a cost of $5.3 billion.^[20]

In 2010, 157 banks with approximately $92 billion in total assets failed.^[21]

Funds[link]

Former funds[link]

Between 1989 and 2006, there were two separate FDIC funds — the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF), and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF). The latter was established after the savings and loans crisis of the 1980s. The existence of two separate funds for the same purpose led to banks’ attempting to shift from one fund to another, depending on the benefits each could provide. In the 1990s, SAIF premiums were, at one point, five times higher than BIF premiums; several banks attempted to qualify for the BIF, with some merging with institutions qualified for the BIF to avoid the higher premiums of the SAIF. This drove up the BIF premiums as well, resulting in a situation where both funds were charging higher premiums than necessary.^[22]

Then Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan was a critic of the system, saying, “We are, in effect, attempting to use government to enforce two different prices for the same item – namely, government-mandated deposit insurance. Such price differences only create efforts by market participants to arbitrage the difference.” Greenspan proposed “to end this game and merge SAIF and BIF”.^[23]

Deposit Insurance Fund[link]

In February 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 (FDIRA) and a related conforming amendments act. The FDIRA contains technical and conforming changes to implement deposit insurance reform, as well as a number of study and survey requirements. Among the highlights of this law was merging the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF) and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF) into a new fund, the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF). This change was made effective March 31, 2006. The FDIC maintains the DIF by assessing depository institutions an insurance premium. The amount each institution is assessed is based both on the balance of insured deposits as well as on the degree of risk the institution poses to the insurance fund.

Bank failures typically represent a cost to the DIF because the FDIC, as receiver of the failed institution, must liquidate assets that have declined substantially in value while, at the same time, making good on the institution’s deposit obligations.

A March 2008 memorandum to the FDIC board of directors shows a 2007 year-end Deposit Insurance Fund balance of about $52.4 billion, which represented a reserve ratio of 1.22% of its exposure to insured deposits, totaling about $4.29 trillion. The 2008 year-end insured deposits were projected to reach about $4.42 trillion with the reserve growing to $55.2 billion, a ratio of 1.25%.^[24] As of June 2008, the DIF had a balance of $45.2 billion.^[25] However, 9 months later, in March, 2009, the DIF fell to $13 billion.^[26] That was the lowest total since September, 1993^[26] and represented a reserve ratio of 0.27% of its exposure to insured deposits totaling about $4.83 trillion.^[27] In the second quarter of 2009, the FDIC imposed an emergency fee aimed at raising $5.6 billion to replenish the DIF.^[28] However, Saxo Bank Research reported that, after Aug 7, further bank failures had reduced the DIF balance to $648.1 million.^[29] FDIC-estimated costs of assuming additional failed banks on Aug 14 exceeded that amount.^{[citation needed]} The FDIC announced its intent, on September 29, 2009, to assess the banks, in advance, for three years’ of premiums in an effort to avoid DIF insolvency. The FDIC revised its estimated costs of bank failures to about $100 billion over the next four years, an increase of $30 billion from the $70 billion estimate of earlier in 2009. The FDIC board voted to require insured banks to prepay $45 billion in premiums to replenish the fund. News media reported that the prepayment move would be inadequate to assure the financial stability of the FDIC insurance fund. The FDIC elected to request the prepayment so that the banks could recognize the expense over three years, instead of drawing down banks’ statutory capital abruptly, at the time of the assessment.^[30] The fund is mandated by law to keep a balance equivalent to 1.15 percent of insured deposits.^[30] As of June 30, 2008, the insured banks held approximately $7,025 billion in total deposits, though not all of those are insured.^[31]

The DIF's reserves are not the only cash resources available to the FDIC: in addition to the $18 billion in the DIF as of June, 2010;^[32] the FDIC has $19 billion of cash and U.S. Treasury securities held as of June, 2010^[32] and has the ability to borrow up to $500 billion from the Treasury. The FDIC can also demand special assessments from banks as it did in the second quarter of 2009.^[33][34]

"Full Faith and Credit"[link]

In light of apparent systemic risks facing the banking system, the adequacy of FDIC's financial backing has come into question. Beyond the funds in the Deposit Insurance Fund above and the FDIC's power to charge insurance premia, FDIC insurance is additionally assured by the Federal government. According to the FDIC.gov website (as of January 2009), "FDIC deposit insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government". This means that the resources of the United States government stand behind FDIC-insured depositors."^[35] The statutory basis for this claim is less than clear. Congress, in 1987, passed a non-binding "Sense of Congress" to that effect,^[36] but there appear to be no laws strictly binding the government to make good on any insurance liabilities unmet by the FDIC.

Insurance requirements[link]

To receive this benefit, member banks must follow certain liquidity and reserve requirements. Banks are classified in five groups according to their risk-based capital ratio:

• Well capitalized: 10% or higher
• Adequately capitalized: 8% or higher
• Undercapitalized: less than 8%
• Significantly undercapitalized: less than 6%
• Critically undercapitalized: less than 2%

When a bank becomes undercapitalized the FDIC issues a warning to the bank. When the number drops below 6% the FDIC can change management and force the bank to take other corrective action. When the bank becomes critically undercapitalized the FDIC declares the bank insolvent and can take over management of the bank.

At Q4 2010 884 banks had very low capital cushions against risk and were on the FDIC's "problem list". This was nearly 12 percent of all federally insured banks, the highest level in 18 years.^[37]

Resolution of insolvent banks[link]

The two most common methods employed by FDIC in cases of insolvency or illiquidity are:

• Purchase and Assumption Method (P&A), in which all deposits (liabilities) are assumed by an open bank, which also purchases some or all of the failed bank's loans (assets). Other failed assets are auctioned online, primarily through The Debt Exchange and First Financial Network.^[38]

• Payout Method, in which insured deposits are paid by the FDIC, which attempts to recover its payments by liquidating the receivership estate of the failed bank. These are straight deposit payoffs and are only executed if the FDIC doesn’t receive a bid for a P&A transaction or for an insured deposit transfer transaction. In a straight deposit payoff, no liabilities are assumed and no assets are purchased by another institution. Also, the FDIC determines the insured amount for each depositor and pays that amount to him or her. In calculating each customer’s total deposit amount, the FDIC includes all the interest accrued up to the date of failure under the contractual terms of the depositor’s account.^[39]

Insured products[link]

Example of FDIC insurance coverage

FDIC deposit insurance covers deposit accounts, which, by the FDIC definition, include:

• demand deposit accounts (checking accounts of a type that formerly could not legally pay interest), and negotiable order of withdrawal accounts (NOW accounts, i.e., savings accounts that have check-writing privileges)
• savings deposit accounts (savings accounts), and money market deposit accounts (MMDAs, i.e., higher-interest savings accounts subject to check-writing restrictions)
• time deposit accounts including certificates of deposit (CDs)
• outstanding cashier's checks, interest checks, and other negotiable instruments drawn on the accounts of the bank.
• accounts denominated in foreign currencies^[40]

Accounts at different banks are insured separately. All branches of a bank are considered to form a single bank. Also, an Internet bank that is part of a brick and mortar bank is not considered to be a separate bank, even if the name differs. Non-US citizens are also covered by FDIC insurance.^[40]

The FDIC publishes a guide entitled "Your Insured Deposits",^[41] which sets forth the general characteristics of FDIC deposit insurance, and addresses common questions asked by bank customers about deposit insurance.^[42]

Items not insured[link]

Only the above types of accounts are insured. Some types of uninsured products, even if purchased through a covered financial institution, are:^[42]

• Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and money funds
  • The Securities Investor Protection Corporation, a separate institution chartered by Congress, provides protection against the loss of many types of such securities in the event of a brokerage failure, but not against losses on the investments.
  • Further, as of September 19, 2008, the US Treasury is offering an optional insurance program for money market funds, which guarantees the value of the assets.^[43]
  • Exceptions have occurred, such as the FDIC bailout of bondholders of Continental Illinois.
• Investments backed by the U.S. government, such as US Treasury securities
• The contents of safe deposit boxes.

  Even though the word deposit appears in the name, under federal law a safe deposit box is not a deposit account – it is merely a secured storage space rented by an institution to a customer.

• Losses due to theft or fraud at the institution.

  These situations are often covered by special insurance policies that banking institutions buy from private insurance companies.

• Accounting errors.

  In these situations, there may be remedies for consumers under state contract law, the Uniform Commercial Code, and some federal regulations, depending on the type of transaction.

• Insurance and annuity products, such as life, auto and homeowner's insurance.

See also[link]

• 2008–2010 bank failures in the United States
• Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
• FDIC Enterprise Architecture Framework
• Financial crisis of 2007-2010
• List of acquired or bankrupt United States banks in the late 2000s financial crisis
• List of largest U.S. bank failures
• National Credit Union Administration
• Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program
• Too Big to Fail policy

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (official website)
• FDIC Statistics at a Glance (FDIC.gov)
• FDIC List of Failed Banks
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Conforming Amendments Act of 2005
• History including Boards of Directors
• 60 Minutes - Your Bank Has Failed: What Happens Next?

v t e Bank regulation in the United States Fair debt collection Federal authorities Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation • Federal Reserve Board • National Credit Union Administration • Office of the Comptroller of the Currency • Office of Thrift Supervision • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Major federal legislation (Category) Credit CARD Act of 2009 • Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 • Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act • Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act • Truth in Savings Act • Electronic Fund Transfer Act • Community Reinvestment Act • Home Mortgage Disclosure Act • Fair Credit Reporting Act • Truth in Lending Act • Bank Secrecy Act • Bank Holding Company Act • Federal Credit Union Act • Glass–Steagall Act • Federal Reserve Act Federal Reserve Board regulations Extensions of Credit by Federal Reserve Banks (Reg A) Equal Credit Opportunity (Reg B) Home Mortgage Disclosure (Reg C) Reserve Requirements for Depository Institutions (Reg D) Electronic Fund Transfer (Reg E) Limitations on Interbank Liabilities (Reg F) International Banking Operations (Reg K) Consumer Leasing (Reg M) Loans to Insiders (Reg O) Privacy of Consumer Financial Information (Reg P) Prohibition Against the Paying of Interest on Demand Deposits (Reg Q) Credit by Brokers and Dealers (Reg T) Credit by Banks and Persons Other Than Brokers or Dealers for the Purpose of Purchasing or Carrying Margin Stock (Reg U) Transactions Between Member Banks and Their Affiliates (Reg W) Borrowers of Securities Credit (Reg X) Truth in Lending (Reg Z) Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (Reg AA) Community Reinvestment (Reg BB) Availability of Funds and Collection of Checks (Reg CC) Truth in Savings (Reg DD) Types of bank charter Credit union • Federal savings bank • Federal savings association • National bank State authorities Florida • New York • Oklahoma • Pennsylvania • Tennessee Terms Call report • Thrift Financial Report • CAMELS ratings • CAMEL rating system Other topics History of central banking in the United States • Wildcat banking

Al Green
Al Green in concert at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California on July 27, 2006.
Background information
Birth name	Albert Greene
Also known as	The Reverend Al Green
Born	(1946-04-13) April 13, 1946 (age 66)
Origin	Forrest City, Arkansas, U.S.
Genres	R&B, gospel, soul, smooth soul
Occupations	Reverend, vocalist, producer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Hi, Myrrh, The Right Stuff
Associated acts	The Creations, Willie Mitchell
Website	www.algreenmusic.com

Albert Greene (born April 13, 1946),^[1] better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together".^[2] In 2005, Rolling Stone named him #66 in their list of the '100 Greatest Artists of All Time'. The nomination stated that "people are born to do certain things, and Al was born to make us smile."^[3] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Green in 1995, referring to him as "one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music." Green has sold more than 20 million records.^[2]

Biography[link]

Green was born in Forrest City, Arkansas.^[1] He was the sixth of ten children born to Robert and Cora Greene.^[4] The son of a sharecropper, he started performing at age ten in a Forrest City quartet called the Greene Brothers; he dropped the final "E" from his last name years later as a solo artist. They toured extensively in the mid-1950s in the South until the Greenes moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, when they began to tour around Michigan.^[5] His father kicked him out of the group because he caught Green listening to Jackie Wilson.^[6]

Green formed a group called Al Greene & the Creations in high school. Curtis Rogers and Palmer James, two members of the Creations, formed an independent label called Hot Line Music Journal. In 1967, under the new name Al Greene & the Soul Mates, the band recorded "Back Up Train" and released it on Hot Line Music; the song was an R&B chart hit. The Soul Mates' subsequent singles did not sell as well. Al Green's debut LP Back Up Train was released on Hot Line in 1967. The album was upbeat and soulful but didn't do well in sales. This was the only album on the Hot Line label. Green came into contact with band leader Willie Mitchell of Memphis' Hi Records in 1969, when Mitchell hired him as a vocalist for a Texas show with Mitchell's band and then asked him to sign with the label.

Rise to stardom[link]

Mitchell predicted stardom for Green^{[citation needed]}, coaching him to find his own, unique voice at a time when Green had previously been trying to sing like his heroes Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, and Sam Cooke. Green's debut album with Hi Records was Green Is Blues, a slow, horn-driven album that allowed Green to show off his powerful and expressive voice, with Mitchell arranging, engineering and producing. The album was a moderate success. The next LP, Al Green Gets Next to You (1970), included a hit remake of the Temptations classic "I Can't Get Next to You", and more significantly, Green's first of seven consecutive gold singles, "Tired of Being Alone". Let's Stay Together (1972) was an even bigger success, as was I'm Still In Love With You (1972). Call Me was a critical sensation and just as popular at the time; it is one of his most fondly remembered albums today. Al Green Explores Your Mind (1974) contained his own song "Take Me to the River", which was later turned into an R&B hit (#7) by label-mate Syl Johnson and also covered by Talking Heads (#26 Pop) on their second album.

Turn to Gospel[link]

On October 18, 1974, Mary Woodson White, a girlfriend of Green's, assaulted him before committing suicide at his Memphis home.^[7] Although she was already married, White reportedly became upset when Green refused to marry her,^[8] some four months after he peaked at #32 on the Hot 100 with the ironically titled "Let's Get Married". At some point during the evening, White doused Green with a pan of boiling grits while he was showering, causing burns on Green's back, stomach and arms.^[9] Then she went and found his .38 and killed herself. The police found in her purse a note declaring her intentions and her reasons. "The more I trust you," she'd written, "the more you let me down."

Green cited the incident as a wake-up call to change his life.^[7] He became an ordained pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis in 1976 and continues to serve in this capacity, delivering services down the street from Graceland.^[10] Continuing to record R&B, Green saw his sales start to slip and drew mixed reviews from critics.^[11] 1977's The Belle Album was critically acclaimed but did not regain his former mass audience.^[12] In 1979 Green injured himself falling off the stage while performing in Cincinnati and interpreted this as a message from God. He then concentrated his energies towards pastoring his church and gospel singing,^[10] also appearing in 1982 with Patti Labelle in the Broadway musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God.^[13] According to Glide Magazine, "by the late 70s, he had begun concentrating almost exclusively on gospel music." ^[14] His first gospel album was The Lord Will Make a Way. From 1981 to 1989 Green recorded a series of gospel recordings, garnering eight "soul gospel performance" Grammys in that period. In 1985, he reunited with Willie Mitchell along with Angelo Earl for He Is the Light, his first album for A&M Records. In 1984, director Robert Mugge released a documentary film, Gospel According to Al Green, including interviews about his life and footage from his church.^[15] In 1989, Green released "I Get Joy", again with producer/guitarist Angelo Earl. In 2001, he appeared in the movie and soundtrack of On the Line featuring Lance Bass.

Return to R&B[link]

After spending several years exclusively performing gospel, Green began to return to R&B (Rhythm & Blues). First, he released a duet with Annie Lennox, "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" for Scrooged, a 1988 Bill Murray film. In 1989 Green worked with producer Arthur Baker writing and producing the international hit "The Message Is Love". In 1991 he created the introductory theme song for the short-lived television series Good Sports featuring Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett.^[7] In 1992, Green recorded again with Baker, the Fine Young Cannibals, and reunited with his former Memphis mix engineer (this time functioning as producer) Terry Manning, to release the album Don't Look Back. His 1994 duet with country music singer Lyle Lovett blended country with R&B, garnering him his ninth Grammy, this time in a pop music category. Green's first secular album in some time was Your Heart's In Good Hands (1995), released to positive reviews but disappointing sales, the same year Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[16]

In 2000, Green published Take Me to the River, a book discussing his career. Green received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.^[16]

In 2001, Green's live cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" was released on the soundtrack to Will Smith's film Ali (the song plays when Muhammad Ali learns of the death of close friend Malcolm X).

By 2003 Green released a non-religious (secular) album entitled I Can't Stop, his first collaboration with Willie Mitchell since 1985's He is the Light. In March 2005 he issued Everything's OK as the follow-up to I Can't Stop. Green also collaborated with Mitchell on this secular CD.

In 2004, Green sang a duet, "Simply Beautiful", with Queen Latifah on her The Dana Owens Album. In 2006, Green worked on his latest studio album for Blue Note Records with The Roots' Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson.^[17] The album, Lay It Down, was released May 27, 2008 and includes tracks featuring John Legend, Corinne Bailey Rae and Anthony Hamilton.^[18] Green said in an interview that he would have liked to duet with Marvin Gaye: "In those days, people didn't sing together like they do now," he said.^[19]

In 2008, Green's album Lay It Down marked his full return to chart success, reaching number nine on the Billboard hit album chart. It was his most successful album release in 35 years.

In 2009, Al Green, along with Heather Headley, released a version of the song "People Get Ready" on the compilation album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration.^[20]

In June 2010 Al Green appeared on the BBC show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and sang "Let's Stay Together" accompanied by David Gilmour and Jools Holland.

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

In 2004, Green was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #65 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[3] He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 BET Awards on June 24, 2009 .^[21]

On August 26, 2004, Green was honored as a BMI Icon at the annual BMI Urban Awards. He joined an impressive list of previous Icon honorees including R&B legends James Brown, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley^[22]

In 2009, Al Green was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.^[23] Green's biggest hit, "Let's Stay Together", was voted a Legendary Michigan Song that same year.^[24]

See also[link]

• List of best-selling music artists

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Al Green

• Official Al Green website
• Al Green at the Internet Movie Database
• Al Green at the Internet Broadway Database
• Al Green at Allmusic
• Green Is Blues 40th Anniversary website
• Al Green: Biography

Sheila Bair
Chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
In office June 26, 2006 – July 8, 2011
President	George W. Bush Barack Obama
Preceded by	Martin Gruenberg (Acting)
Succeeded by	Martin Gruenberg (Acting)
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets
In office 2001–2002
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Richard Carnell
Succeeded by	Wayne Abernathy
Chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting
In office August 21, 1993 – December 21, 1993
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	William Albrecht (Acting)
Succeeded by	Barbara Holum (Acting)
Personal details
Born	(1954-04-03) April 3, 1954 (age 58) Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Scott Cooper
Alma mater	University of Kansas, Lawrence
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Lutheranism

Sheila Colleen Bair^[1] (born April 3, 1954)^[2] was the 19th Chairperson of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).^[3] She was appointed to the post for a five-year term on June 26, 2006 by George W. Bush. Bair served as a member of the FDIC Board of Directors through July 8, 2011.^[4]

Early life[link]

Bair is a native of Independence, Kansas. Her father, Albert, was a surgeon. Her mother, Clara, was a nurse and housewife. She received her bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Kansas in 1975,^[5] and worked as a bank teller for a brief period, before receiving a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1978. In 1981, she was recruited by Senator Bob Dole, a Republican from her state, to serve as counsel on his staff in Washington.

Career[link]

Prior to her appointment at the FDIC, Bair was the Dean's Professor of Financial Regulatory Policy for the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a post she had held since 2002. She also served as Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (2001 to 2002), Senior Vice President for Government Relations of the New York Stock Exchange (1995 to 2000), a Commissioner and Acting Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (1991 to 1995), and Research Director, Deputy Counsel and Counsel to Kansas Republican Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (1981 to 1988). While an academic, Bair also served on the FDIC's Advisory Committee on Banking Policy. Bair also pursued a seat in the U.S. Congress (she lost the 1990 Republican nomination in the 5th Kansas district by 760 votes to Dick Nichols).^{[6][dead link]} Bair began her career in the General Counsel's office of the former US Department of Health, Education and Welfare.^[7] Ms. Bair left the FDIC on July 8, 2011, when her five year term expired.^[8] She became a senior advisor to The Pew Charitable Trusts in August 2011.^[9]

Bair has published two books for children: Rock, Brock and the Savings Shock (2006) and Isabel's Car Wash (2008). Both titles show children good examples of money management.

Bair is married to Scott P. Cooper and has two children, Preston and Colleen.

2008 financial crisis[link]

Bair assumed a prominent role in the government’s response to the crisis, including bolstering public confidence and system stability that resulted in no runs on bank deposits. The FDIC did not turn to taxpayer borrowing to manage its losses and liquidity needs, instead funding them through its traditional means of assessing banks for the cost of insuring their deposits. The FDIC’s resolution practice of selling failing banks to healthier institutions, while providing credit support of future losses from failed banks’ troubled loans, saved the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund $40 billion over losses it would have incurred if the FDIC had liquidated those banks.

During the congressional effort to reform the financial regulatory system, Bair successfully pushed to establish tools to end the doctrine of “too big to fail” by extending the FDIC’s resolution process to large, systemically-important financial institutions. The FDIC was also given joint authority to order the restructuring of an entity that cannot demonstrate, though a continually-monitored “living will,” that it can be unwound.

Bair is active on the international front, and pressed the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision to adopt strong capital and leverage standards, as Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported.^[10]

In a fictional TV movie about the crises, Patricia Randell played Bair in the 2011 HBO movie Too Big to Fail, which was based on the popular book of the same name by New York Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Opinion[link]

In 2009, Bair was named one of Time magazine’s “Time 100” most influential people. In 2008, Bair topped The Wall Street Journal’s annual 50 “Women to Watch List.” In 2008 and 2009, Forbes ranked her as the second most powerful woman in the world behind German chancellor Angela Merkel. Forbes described her FDIC office as "the last stop for capital-starved banks (and their insured customers) before going under."^[11]

Criticism[link]

Bair has received criticism for her outspoken style and what some^[who?] saw as her single-minded defense of the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund in the heat of the response to the financial meltdown in 2008. The FDIC was sued by Judicial Watch twice seeking information regarding the FDIC decision jointly with the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department to “bailout” Citi. The litigants say the FDIC was refusing to provide any information on the reasons for its support of the bailouts of certain banks stemming from the Financial Crisis of 2008, and continues to do so. Judge Emmett G. Sullivan of the US District Court (DC) said the case was not moot because the litigants continued to contest whether the FDIC reasonably interpreted the scope of his request. The FDIC says the court specifically gave the FDIC the option to submit additional evidence demonstrating that its original search was complete. The FDIC says it has done so, and the issue of the scope of the search is now before the Court.^[12][13]

In addition to the legal proceedings, Bair has made the following remark, which spoke to the FDIC’s lack of statutory authority pre Dodd-Frank. In a response to the Inspector General for the TARP program, Bair remarked, "We were told by the New York Fed that problems would occur in the global markets if Citi were to fail. We didn't have our own information to verify this statement, so I didn't want to dispute that with them." In 2008, the FDIC did not have the legal authority to put large holding companies into its bank receivership process and little authority to access information outside of the insured institutions. Since these were holding companies, and not banks, the FDIC had to rely on information from other regulators. That is no longer the case. In 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act was enacted, expressly prohibiting bank bailouts by extending the FDIC’s resolution authority to close the largest financial firms and make their shareholders and creditors bear the losses without creating a systemic disruption. Dodd-Frank also gave the FDIC new authority to directly access information from large bank holding companies which are not in sound condition.^{[13] [14]}

In 2009, Bair lobbied hard to have the CEO of Citibank Vikram Pandit fired,^[15][16] failed to do so and was criticized for her efforts ^[17].

Awards[link]

Bair has received many awards, including the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award.^[18]

On March 29, 2012 Bair was honored by the Romney Institute of Public Management (BYU Marriott School of Management) as the Administrator of the Year.^[19][20]. She was awarded an honorary degree from Amherst College in 2012.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation website
• FDIC Biography of Bair
• New Yorker profile
• Sheila Bair "exit interview" by Joe Nocera, NY Times, July 9, 2011.