Sheila Bair

More than one-tenth of U.S. banks continue to be at risk of failure even as some sectors, such as credit quality, are showing some signs of recovery. Around 829 of the country's 7,800 banks were on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s "problem list" at the end of June, up from 775 at the end of...

The FDIC says the number of troubled financial institutions is increasing, but the number of loans 90 days or more past-due has declined for the first time in four years. "This is the best quarterly profit for the banking sector in almost three years."

Bank stocks have been on a tear over the last few months, rising twice as fast as the market. But changes in the banking world, from souring commercial real estate loans to higher interest rates, suggest that the sector could come under pressure in the second half of the year.

Henry Paulson's just-published memoir "On the Brink" recalls the financial crisis as it unfolded in the fall of 2008. Far from a gossipy tell-all, it devotes the bulk of its pages to the cautionary tale of how the world's financial system nearly collapsed -- and what he tried to do about it.

It's no secret that one of the biggest dangers facing banks today is that loans to builders of office towers, malls and other commercial properties are going sour at a quickening pace. Financial regulators, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chief Sheila Bair, have warned of the risk.

It's no secret that the financial sector is struggling. Even so, new figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s so-called secret list of troubled banks show an industry in increasing distress. The number of banks on the regulator's confidential watch list increased by 33% in the third...

I have to hand it to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair: The former University of Massachusetts economics professor gets it right on key policy issues. She's right about ending the doctrine of too-big-to-fail, and now she's proposing an idea that I've been pushing with no effect...

In a reversal of fortunes, the FDIC may need to turn to healthy banks for money to help bail out the FDIC's insurance fund, which is running out of money as it tries to rescue all the failed banks, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Banks like this deal because they can lend money to the FDIC...

What happens if the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. runs out of money? Most everyone with a bank account knows the FDIC guarantees deposits up to $250,000 against loss. But with bank failures surging -- there have already been 92 this year -- the agency's insurance fund is running out of...

Regulators shut down three more banks late yesterday, bringing this year's total number of failed banks to 84. The closures included Affinity Bank, of Ventura, CA, Bradford Bank in Baltimore, and Mainstreet Bank in Minnesota, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC found...