Federal Deposit Insurance

WASHINGTON -- The House, acting with unusual urgency approved a measure yesterday that would permit the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to boost insurance premiums banks pay to the fund that backs deposits at commercial banks.A nearly identical bill has been introduced in the Senate by its Banking Committee chairman, Donald Riegle, D-Mich.By increasing the premiums, the law would raise banks' costs of doing business.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's top banking regulators urged Congress yesterday to prevent companies such as the Home Depot Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from branching into banking. Although Congress has kept commercial companies and banks separated for five decades, it has allowed an exception for limited-purpose banks known as industrial loan companies. Now, with a growing number of retailers opening ILCs, Congress must "close, and not just narrow, the loophole," said Donald L. Kohn, vice chairman of the Federal Reserve System.

Any Iraq-U.S. ground war would be experimental. Iraq has no idea if its 15-year-old soldiers would fight. Ditto for the U.S. and its electronics.The bad news is that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.expects to lose $5 billion next year. The good news is that's all.The people of Haiti voted for change. The powers in Haiti will tolerate anything but that.

Ask just about anybody about FDIC insurance and they will be able to tell you that your savings are insured up to $100,000 if your bank becomes insolvent. There is also policyholder protection for insolvent insurance companies, and it's important to understand how it works if you're relying on an immediate annuity for retirement. (An immediate annuity is an insurance product that pays a fixed amount, usually for life.) As with Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insurance, there are limits to coverage for the policies of failed insurers.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Government regu lators for the first time have laid much of the blame for the savings and loan industry collapse on the junk bond dealings of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.In a 60-page legal claim, federal thrift regulators accuse the failed investment firm of bribery, fraud, market manipulation and other serious crimes they allege hastened the demise of 48 savings and loan institutions, including Baltimore Federal Financial F.S.A. In the case of Baltimore Federal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Bank Maryland Corp. announced yesterday that Chief Operating Officer H. David Shumpert has been appointed chief executive officer. Mr. Shumpert, who joined the company in August, retains the title of president.The announcement came a year and a month after the last chief executive left the company, whose principal subsidiary is Bank of Maryland. When E. Neil Jacobs ended his one-year term as chief executive in April 1991, Chairman Hildebert F. "Bert" Criste took on the added positions of president and CEO on an interim basis.

Baltimore Bancorp has filed suit against its former attorneys, alleging legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty and asking the court to relieve the banking company of its hefty legal bill.The lawsuit, filed last week in the Superior Court of Washington, claims attorney Dennis Gingold and his law firm, Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin, leaked confidential information to the press, poisoned the company's relations with federal regulators and improperly advised current and former directors of the company about their resignations from the board.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's top banking regulators urged Congress yesterday to prevent companies such as the Home Depot Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from branching into banking. Although Congress has kept commercial companies and banks separated for five decades, it has allowed an exception for limited-purpose banks known as industrial loan companies. Now, with a growing number of retailers opening ILCs, Congress must "close, and not just narrow, the loophole," said Donald L. Kohn, vice chairman of the Federal Reserve System.

Bank Maryland Corp., the Towson-based parent of the Bank of Maryland, said its results are continuing to improve compared with a year ago, despite the fact the company has yet to break into profitability.The company said it lost $90,000, or 4 cents a share, in its third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a $2.5 million loss, or $1.24 a share, in the third quarter of 1991.For the first nine months of the year, Bank Maryland lost $323,000, or 16 cents a share, compared with a loss of $3.4 million, or $1.66 a share a year ago.The company's stock, which typically trades thinly over the counter, did not trade yesterday, but rose 75 cents a share, to close at $4.25, on Friday when the results were announced.

People with precious family heirlooms and documents that smoldered in safe-deposit boxes within one of the still-standing World Trade Center buildings have learned a hard lesson. Although the contents of a safe-deposit box are secured inside a bank's facilities, the items in the box are personal belongings and are not insured by the bank. Consumers need to insure those items on their own. "It's probably the largest misunderstanding there is out there," said David McGuinn, founder of Safe Deposit Specialists and national consultant to banks for safe deposit operations.

ONE GOOD thing about last winter's Allfirst Financial mess was that, despite the combustion of $691 million in bad currency bets, the bank's deposits were safe, backed up by Allfirst reserves and government insurance. Another good thing is that depositors worried anyway. When the Baltimore bank's adventures hit the papers in February, the first thing many customers asked was whether Allfirst would implode and whether they should hurry to claim their cash. Many people did hurry. This newspaper reported that tens of millions of dollars in refugee Allfirst greenbacks flowed into branches of Allfirst's competitors in February.

People with precious family heirlooms and documents that smoldered in safe-deposit boxes within one of the still-standing World Trade Center buildings have learned a hard lesson. Although the contents of a safe-deposit box are secured inside a bank's facilities, the items in the box are personal belongings and are not insured by the bank. Consumers need to insure those items on their own. "It's probably the largest misunderstanding there is out there," said David McGuinn, founder of Safe Deposit Specialists and national consultant to banks for safe deposit operations.

NEW YORK -- WHEN A mortgage broker approached a Michigan mortgage company last year, offering to sell it some attractive mortgage loans, the company was interested. But first, it ran the broker's name through the 3-year-old National Financial Fraud Exchange (NAFEX).The broker had said that he'd practiced law in Joliet, Ill. -- which turned out to be true, in a way. He had been in state prison there. His "law practice" consisted of filing appeals for his own release.Somewhere, that broker is still at work -- probably selling financial products and doubtlessly heading for another forced stay in Illinois.

Bank Maryland Corp., the Towson-based parent of the Bank of Maryland, said its results are continuing to improve compared with a year ago, despite the fact the company has yet to break into profitability.The company said it lost $90,000, or 4 cents a share, in its third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a $2.5 million loss, or $1.24 a share, in the third quarter of 1991.For the first nine months of the year, Bank Maryland lost $323,000, or 16 cents a share, compared with a loss of $3.4 million, or $1.66 a share a year ago.The company's stock, which typically trades thinly over the counter, did not trade yesterday, but rose 75 cents a share, to close at $4.25, on Friday when the results were announced.

Bank Maryland Corp. announced yesterday that Chief Operating Officer H. David Shumpert has been appointed chief executive officer. Mr. Shumpert, who joined the company in August, retains the title of president.The announcement came a year and a month after the last chief executive left the company, whose principal subsidiary is Bank of Maryland. When E. Neil Jacobs ended his one-year term as chief executive in April 1991, Chairman Hildebert F. "Bert" Criste took on the added positions of president and CEO on an interim basis.

Baltimore Bancorp has filed suit against its former attorneys, alleging legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty and asking the court to relieve the banking company of its hefty legal bill.The lawsuit, filed last week in the Superior Court of Washington, claims attorney Dennis Gingold and his law firm, Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin, leaked confidential information to the press, poisoned the company's relations with federal regulators and improperly advised current and former directors of the company about their resignations from the board.

Ask just about anybody about FDIC insurance and they will be able to tell you that your savings are insured up to $100,000 if your bank becomes insolvent. There is also policyholder protection for insolvent insurance companies, and it's important to understand how it works if you're relying on an immediate annuity for retirement. (An immediate annuity is an insurance product that pays a fixed amount, usually for life.) As with Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insurance, there are limits to coverage for the policies of failed insurers.

ONE GOOD thing about last winter's Allfirst Financial mess was that, despite the combustion of $691 million in bad currency bets, the bank's deposits were safe, backed up by Allfirst reserves and government insurance. Another good thing is that depositors worried anyway. When the Baltimore bank's adventures hit the papers in February, the first thing many customers asked was whether Allfirst would implode and whether they should hurry to claim their cash. Many people did hurry. This newspaper reported that tens of millions of dollars in refugee Allfirst greenbacks flowed into branches of Allfirst's competitors in February.

Baltimore Bancorp has filed suit against its former attorneys, alleging legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty and asking the court to relieve the banking company of its hefty legal bill.The lawsuit, filed last week in the Superior Court of Washington, claims attorney Dennis Gingold and his law firm, Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin, leaked confidential information to the press, poisoned the company's relations with federal regulators and improperly advised current and former directors of the company about their resignations from the board.

State banking regulators are confident that the problems of Rhode Island credit unions will not spread to Maryland and that the privately sponsored fund that insures the deposits of most state-chartered credit unions has enough money to handle the situation if they do.Rhode Island has been rocked this week by news that several of the biggest credit unions in the state are on the edge of failure because of poor management, and that the fund that insures deposits...