Topic: Domestic Commerce — Insurance Regulation
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Date: 2011-05-31 00:00:00

(Sec. 1) Directs the Inspector General (IG) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to study the impact of the failure of insured depository institutions. Prescribes study details, including: (1) the impact of loss-sharing agreements (LSAs) upon the insured depository institutions that survive and the borrowers of those insured depository institutions that fail; (2) FDIC policies and procedures for monitoring LSAs, including those designed to ensure that institutions are not imprudently selling assets at a depressed value; (3) FDIC policies and procedures for terminating LSAs and mitigating the risk of acquiring institutions having substantial assets remaining in their portfolio when the LSAs are due to expire; (4) methods of ensuring the orderly end of expiring LSAs to prevent adverse impacts upon either borrowing, the real estate industry, or the Depositors Insurance Fund; (5) the significance of losses; and (6) the number of insured depository institutions placed into either receivership or conservatorship due to significant losses arising from loans for which all payments of principal, interest, and fees (payments) were current, under the contract. Requires the study to examine: (1) the impact of significant losses arising from loans for which all payments were current on the ability of insured depository institutions to raise additional capital; (2) the degree to which fair value accounting rules and other accounting standards have led to regulatory action against banks; and (3) whether field examiners use appropriate appraisal procedures with respect to losses arising from loans for which all payments were current and whether the application of appraisals leads to immediate write downs on the value of the underlying asset. Requires the study also to cover: (1) the policies and procedures for evaluating the adequacy of an insured depository institution's allowance for loan and lease losses, (2) examiners' policies and procedures for evaluating appraised values of property securing real estate loans, (3) examiners' implementation of specified FDIC guidelines, (4) factors examiners use to assess the adequacy of capital at insured depository institutions, (5) the factors used by the FDIC in evaluating applications of private capital investors to acquire insured depository institutions in receivership, and (6) the extent to which policies and procedures associated with the evaluation of potential private investments in insured depository institutions are followed. Requires such study also to address: (1) the success of FDIC field examiners in implementing specified FDIC guidelines governing workouts of commercial real estate loans, (2) the application and impact of consent orders and cease and desist orders, (3) the application and impact of FDIC policies, and (4) the FDIC's handling of potential investment from private equity companies in insured depository institutions. Requires the Inspectors General of the U.S. Treasury and of the Federal Reserve System to provide any material requested by the IG order to implement this Act. (Sec. 2) Directs the FDIC IG and the Comptroller General (GAO) to appear before certain congressional committees within 150 days after publication of the study required by this Act to discuss the outcomes and impact of federal regulations on bank examinations and failures. (Sec. 3) Directs the GAO to study: (1) the causes of bank failures in states with 10 or more failures since 2008; (2) the procyclical impact of fair value accounting standards; (3) the causes and potential solutions for the "vicious cycle" of loan write downs, raising capital, and failures; (4) the impact of bank failures upon the community; and (5) the feasibility and overall impact of LSAs.