Joe Adler

Miami-based Ocean Bank faces a nearly $11 million fine to settle charges it turned a blind eye to drug traffickers allegedly using the bank to launder money.

It sounds strange to say, but the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is solvent again. That the FDIC was technically in the red for seven quarters -- the result of heavy failures and very strict accounting --- was a lesser-known fact of the 2008 crisis, and so news last month that the Deposit Insurance Fund turned positive in the second quarter also drew scant attention.

For banks, the supervisory grade known as a "Camels" score is a critical and confidential yardstick of strength. But for many in the public, it is a riddle too tantalizing to ignore.

As the stock prices of the big banks cratered on Monday, particularly for Bank of America Corp., pundits and industry observers began worrying that a second financial crisis was in the offing, including the possibility of the failure of a large financial institution.

An aggressive push by the Justice Department to investigate fair lending claims is prompting a backlash from bankers who claim the government is abusing its authority and contradicting findings by other federal regulators.

Richard Cordray, the enforcement chief at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will be named to lead the new regulator, the Obama administration said Sunday.

While the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. made significant progress Wednesday toward building its new resolution regime, it left a key component still on the table.

It turns out banks are reluctant to help dig their own graves. In letters to federal regulators, several institutions said they remain worried about a requirement that they submit a "living will" outlining how best to dismantle them in a crisis.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. convened some of the best banking-policy minds on the planet Tuesday to look at how best the agency can use its new powers to unwind a large, systemically important bank.

With regulators struggling to decide which loans to excuse from risk-retention, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said Thursday the best option would have been to shelve the exemption altogether.

Although banks failed in their attempt to convince Congress to delay an interchange fee cap for debit cards, the financial services industry is not giving up, just changing venues.

Banks appeared to be gaining the upper hand in their battle against retailers to delay pending interchange fee caps, but the fight was far from over.

Mortgage lenders and consumer advocates have joined forces to urge regulators to ease up on proposed risk retention requirements, arguing they will result in a credit crunch.

FDIC's Sheila Bair spent one of her last congressional hearings trying to convince skeptical Republicans that "too big to fail" has finally been eliminated.

As the government builds a new regime for writing consumer protection rules, an existing bank regulator has put a twist on enforcing them.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said Monday she will step down from her post on July 8.

The FDIC engaged in an activity that paints an alternate history detailing how it might have handled the collapse of Lehman Bros. if its new reform powers had been in place.

Bankers are divided over a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plan to train bank employees on insurance limits and require tellers to question depositors about their accounts.

While a slowdown in failures is consistent with an improving economy, and the FDIC says 2010 was a peak year for the recent crisis, many say there are still plenty of failures ahead.

The OCC closed the $187 million-asset Western Springs National Bank and Trust in Illinois Later, state regulators closed the $145 million-asset Nevada Commerce Bank.