Acknowledgments Acknowledgments

As Chairman Hove has indicated in his foreword, in 1995 the Division of Research

and Statistics was directed by then-Chairman Helfer to undertake an examination of the history of the banking crises of the 1980s and early 1990s. The study was initiated in the belief that with the banking industry recovering, it was important to look back at the crises that

had just passed and to assess what had taken place. The study would serve to identify areas

where the agencys mission could be better accomplished in the future, and to learn from

the unique experience that the 1980s and early 1990s provided to the regulators and bankers

alike.

This study was conducted under the direction of George Hanc, Associate Director,

Division of Research and Statistics. Lee Davison was responsible for day-to-day management of the study and provided expertise on historical research methods. Jack Reidhill was

integral to the process of planning and executing the study. John OKeefe made many

important contributions concerning analytical methodology in all areas of the study.

The primary authors of the study were:

Chapter 1. The Banking Crises of the 1980s and Early 1990s:

Summary and Implications George Hanc

Chapter 2. Banking Legislation and Regulation Lee Davison

Chapter 3. Commercial Real Estate and the Banking

Crises of the 1980s and Early 1990s James Freund,

Timothy Curry,

Peter Hirsch,

and Theodore Kelley

Chapter 4. The Savings and Loan Crisis and Its

Relationship to Banking Alane Moysich

Chapter 5. The LDC Debt Crisis Timothy Curry

Chapter 6. The Mutual Savings Bank Crisis Alane Moysich

Chapter 7. Continental Illinois and Too Big to Fail Lee Davison

Chapter 8. Banking and the Agricultural Problems of the 1980s Brian Lamm
Chapter 9. Banking Problems in the Southwest Brian Lamm

and John OKeefe

Chapter 10. Banking Problems in the Northeast Brian Lamm

and John OKeefe

Chapter 11. Banking Problems in California Victor Saulsbury

and Timothy Curry

Chapter 12. Bank Examination and Enforcement Timothy Curry,

with contributions by George Hanc,

John OKeefe,

Lee Davison,

and Jack Reidhill

Chapter 13. Off-Site Surveillance Systems Jack Reidhill

and John OKeefe

Many others on the staff of the Division of Research and Statistics provided extremely

valuable research assistance, analyzed large quantities of complex data, and helped in other

ways, both with production of the study and with the organization of the FDIC symposium

on the study held in January 1997. Especially important research and analytical support

were provided by Cynthia Angell, Jane Coburn, Joseph Colantuoni, Steven Guggenmos,

James Heath, Robin Heider, Matthew Klena, Sandra Meyer, Lynne Montgomery, Lynn

Shibut, Tara Sorensen, and Kenneth Walsh. Additional work was done by Joseph Bauer,

Daniel Bean, Richard Brown, Timothy Critchfield, James Curtis, Jay Golter, Ronnie Kidd,

Laura Kittleman, Rose Kushmeider, James McFadyen, Erin Robbins, Martha Solt, Mark

Taylor, Ross Waldrop, Katie Wehner, Thomas Yeatts, and Jennifer Zanini.

In addition, I want to thank Detta Voesar, Jane Lewin, and Christine Blair for their

work in editing and reviewing the many drafts of each chapter, Geri Bonebrake for her work

on graphics and layout, and Cathy Wright and Donna Schull for secretarial assistance in

preparing the final manuscript. I also want to thank the reference staff of the FDIC Library,

all of whom were unfailingly helpful in locating research materials for the study.

The FDICs Division of Supervision was extremely helpful during the course of the

study, and provided us with invaluable support. In particular, Joseph Ketchmark and Eric

Dahlstrom provided both knowledge about the supervisory process and important research

assistance, and Sidney Carroll, Michael Jaworski, and Robert Walsh took part in the interviewing of regulators and bankers for the study.

I want to acknowledge the contribution of George French, now Deputy Director of the

FDICs Division of Insurance, who directed the project in its initial stages.

vi History of the EightiesLessons for the Future
Several individuals, both inside and outside the FDIC, provided extremely helpful

reviews of drafts of various chapters, and I would like here to thank Peter Elmer, Donald

Inscoe, Barry Kolatch, Daniel Nuxoll, and Steven Seelig (from the Division of Research

and Statistics), Frederick Carns and Gary Zimmerman (Division of Insurance), Lynn

Nejezchleb (Office of the Vice Chairman), and Jesse Snyder (Division of Supervision) for

their thoughtful readings. Other staff in both the Division of Supervision and the Division

of Insurance read drafts of all the chapters and provided many helpful suggestions. In

addition, I want to express my appreciation to David Boughton from the International

Monetary Fund, Jennifer Eccles from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,

Leonard Lapidus from the Department of the Treasury, and Kevin Kleisen from the Federal

Reserve Bank of St. Louis for their reviews of specific chapters. Finally, I want to recognize

the contribution made by participants at the FDICs symposium on the History of the

Eighties, whose comments led to improvements in this, the published study.

I would also like to thank our colleagues at the Office of the Comptroller of the

Currency, the Federal Reserve System, and the Office of Thrift Supervision for their

assistance in providing information without which the study could not have been

completed. In particular, I would like to acknowledge Fred Finke, Robin Stefan and Sally

Curran from the OCC and Stephen Schemering, AnnMarie Kohlligian, Carolyn Drach, and

Susan Fleshman from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for their help in

assembling examination and/or enforcement data for the study. The FDIC would also like

to thank those bankers in various regions across the country who generously took time to

answer questions and give their views on the banking crises of the 1980s and early 1990s.

William R. Watson, Director

Division of Research and Statistics

History of the EightiesLessons for the Future vii