Banks call for backup to keep your hard-earned money safe

Published

2 years ago

March 21, 2023

admin

close video Banking crisis is absolutely stabilizing: Sonenshine

Barron’s markets reporter Jacob Sonenshine discusses whether the banking sector is on the brink of a 2008-style bailout on “Varney & Co.”

Mid-sized regional banks and their community banking counterparts around the country are calling on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure all bank deposits to prevent bank runs like those that toppled Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

The FDIC ordinarily insures deposits up to a cap of $250,000 per depositor, which leaves balances in excess of that being vulnerable in the event of a bank failure. In response to the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, federal regulators granted systemic risk exceptions and guaranteed all deposits at those banks – including those that would typically be uninsured.

However, the Treasury Department has signaled that regulators aren’t planning to backstop uninsured deposits at banks that aren’t granted systemic risk exceptions. The uncertainty created by the bank failures along with federal regulators’ response has prompted some customers of mid-sized and community banks to withdraw funds from smaller banks and move them to larger, systemically important banks considered "too big to fail" – a dynamic that could worsen if additional banks fail.

JAMIE DIMON LEADING EFFORTS FOR NEW FIRST REPUBLIC BANK RESCUE PLAN

Mid-sized regional and community banks are calling on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to raise its threshold for deposit insurance more than $250,000 for all institutions after regulators granted two exceptions. (Celal Gunes / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / File / Getty Images)

That has led mid-sized and community banks to urge regulators to take a more evenhanded approach to the issue by guaranteeing all uninsured deposits regardless of the banking institution for the next two years.

Anne Balcer, senior executive vice president and chief of government relations and public policy at the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), told FOX Business that regulators should take a "prudent approach to any changes in FDIC insurance."

"It may make sense for Congress to look at the insurance limit cap and revisit raising it based on metrics demonstrating increasing deposit balances since the previous increase, but the tone coming from Treasury of picking winners and losers defies logic and is largely inappropriate," Balcer added. "If the FDIC decides to provide unlimited deposit insurance for some institutions, even on a limited basis, they cannot discriminate and leave others out, particularly those that have been operating on a safe and sound basis, such as the nation’s community banks."

FDIC EXTENDS BID WINDOW FOR SILICON VALLEY BANK ENTITIES

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testified that federal regulators aren’t planning to backstop uninsured deposits at banks that aren’t deemed systemically important. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin / File / AP Newsroom)

The Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America (MBCA) sent a letter to the Treasury Department, FDIC, the comptroller of the currency, and the Federal Reserve to urge regulators to lift the deposit insurance cap for all institutions for two years, according to a report by Bloomberg.

"Doing so will immediately halt the exodus from smaller banks, stabilize the banking sector and greatly reduce the chances of more bank failures," the MBCA letter reportedly said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in congressional testimony last week that uninsured deposits will only be backstopped by the government "if a majority of the FDIC board, a supermajority of the Fed board, and I in consultation with the president, determine that the failure to protect uninsured depositors would create systemic risk and significant economic and financial consequences."

NEW YORK BANKCORP SHARES SOAR ON SIGNATURE DEAL

Federal regulators granted a systemic risk exception to backstop all of Silicon Valley Bank’s deposits, including uninsured deposits above the FDIC threshold. (AP Photo / Benjamin Fanjoy / File / AP Newsroom)

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., noted that could make smaller banks a less attractive destination for depositors with funds above the $250,000 threshold.

He said it sounded as though Yellen is "encouraging anyone who has a large deposit at a community bank to say, ‘We’re not going to make you whole, but if you go to one of our preferred banks, we will make you whole.’"

Yellen responded by saying, "That’s certainly not something that we’re encouraging."

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Congress will hold an oversight hearing next week in the wake of the bank failures. The House Financial Services Committee will hear from Martin Gruenberg, the chairman of the FDIC’s board of directors, and Michael Barr, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors vice chair for supervision, in a hearing scheduled for March 29.

World

Trump ‘very disappointed’ in Russian strikes on Ukraine and calls for Putin to ‘sit down and sign a deal’

Published

2 hours ago

April 28, 2025

admin

Trump 'very disappointed' in Russian strikes on Ukraine and calls for Putin to 'sit down and sign a deal'

Donald Trump has said he’s “very disappointed” with Russia as he continues to push for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

On Saturday, the US president met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican for their first face-to-face meeting since their explosive White House summit.

The Ukrainian president said the meeting ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral could end up being “historic.” Hours later, Mr Trump questioned Vladimir Putin’s appetite for peace in a Truth Social post.

Speaking before boarding Air Force One on Sunday, Mr Trump again said the meeting went well, and that the Ukrainian leader was “calmer”.

“I think he understands the picture, I think he wants to make a deal,” he said, before turning to Mr Putin and Russia.

“I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” the US president said, adding he was “very disappointed that they did the bombing of those places (including Kyiv, where nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on Friday) after discussions”.

However, Mr Trump said he thinks Mr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, which the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said he would refuse to do.

He added that “we’ll see what happens in the next few days” and said “don’t talk to me about Crimea, talk to Obama and Biden about Crimea”.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, while Barack Obama was president.

Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that a peace deal to end the war was “closer in general than they’ve been any time in the last three years, but it’s still not there”.

“If this was an easy war to end, it would have been ended by someone else a long time ago,” he added on the Meet the Press show.

It comes after North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to fight for Russia, months after Ukraine and Western officials said its forces were in Europe.

State media outlet KCNA reported North Korean soldiers made an “important contribution” to expelling Ukrainian forces from Russian territory, likely to be the Kursk region.

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un made the decision to deploy troops to Russia and notified Moscow, and quoted him as saying: “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.”

It also quoted the country’s ruling Workers’ Party as saying the end of the battle to liberate Kursk showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia.

Last June, Mr Kim and Mr Putin signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty after a state visit – his first to the country in 24 years.

The North Korean leader promised at the time “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine”.

World

40 killed in blast at Iran’s biggest port as Tehran denies explosion ‘linked to fuel for missiles’

Published

2 hours ago

April 28, 2025

admin

40 killed in blast at Iran's biggest port as Tehran denies explosion 'linked to fuel for missiles'

At least 40 people have been killed and several hundred more injured after an explosion and fire at Iran’s largest port, according to state media.

The blast, at the Shahid Rajaei container hub near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, happened on Saturday as Iran held a third round of talks with the US in Oman about Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Shipping containers burned, goods inside were badly damaged and the explosion was so powerful that windows several miles away were shattered, reports said.

Helicopters and aircraft dumped water from the air on the blaze and by Sunday afternoon it was 90% extinguished, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society told state media.

Officials said port activities had resumed in unaffected parts of Shahid Rajaei.

Out of the 752 people who had received treatment for their injuries, 190 were still being treated in medical centres on Sunday, according to Iran’s crisis management organisation.

Chemicals at the port were suspected to have worsened the blast, but the exact cause of the explosion was not clear.

Iran’s defence ministry denied international media reports that the explosion may be connected to the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles.

The reports were “aligned with enemy psyops [psychological operations]”, according to a ministry spokesperson, who told state TV the blast-hit area did not contain any military cargo.

According to the Associated Press, British security company Ambrey said that the port in March received sodium perchlorate, which is used to propel ballistic missiles and the mishandling of which could have led to the explosion.

The Financial Times previously reported two Iranian vessels had shipped from China enough of the ingredient to propel up to 260 mid-range missiles.

It was reportedly to help Tehran replenish stocks after its missile attacks on Israel in 2024.

Iran’s military has sought to deny the delivery of sodium perchlorate from China.

Iran’s state-run Irna news agency reported on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide help.

World

Pilgrims travel to Pope Francis’s tomb to remember the late pontiff

Published

2 hours ago

April 28, 2025

admin

Pilgrims travel to Pope Francis's tomb to remember the late pontiff

Anna and Irene have already been queuing for an hour or so, and they know they have a long wait still to come.

“Two hours, three hours, ten hours – what does it matter?” says Irena. “This is about eternity.”

They have come to Rome from Slovenia, Catholics who felt “Papa Francis would have wanted us to be here”.

And under the sun outside Santa Maria Maggiore, they are awaiting the opportunity to visit his tomb.

Francis, says Irena, “was like a rainbow” who lit up the world. Anna nods along: “We are so happy to be here.”

The Pope’s tomb has become a new source of pilgrimage.

More than 30,000 people came to view it during the first morning after the Pope’s funeral, the queue snaking from the front of the mighty basilica and then up and down across the square at the back.

Some were curious visitors, others were devout followers – priests and nuns mixing in the queue with tourists and devoted locals.

All of these admired Francis; a very few actually knew him.

Father Alessandro Masseroni is a deacon who came to Rome to train to become a priest. On his phone, he shows me a photo of him and Francis, with the Pope offering words of encouragement.

He says: “I had the honour to serve Pope Francis and to talk to him many times and it was a special experience. I understand why he was so loved by all the people – he was simple and direct.

“He was sunny. St Francis was his role model and when I saw the first picture of the Pope’s tomb, the first thing I thought was of the tomb of St Francis of Assisi.

“Pope Francis will leave a legacy – it doesn’t end with his death but will continue.”

What are your emotions now, as you wait to visit his tomb, I ask. Father Alessandro pauses and smiles.

“Many emotions of course, but mainly, I think… thankfulness.”

That has been a recurring aspect among so many of the people we have met in Rome over the past week – the sense that sadness for Francis’s death is outweighed by the sense that his was a life that should be celebrated.

Volodymyr Borysyak flew in from London on the morning of the Pope’s funeral to make his third pilgrimage to Rome.

Barely had he arrived than his phone was stolen, a crime he responded to by praying for the thief.

Volodymyr is a refugee from western Ukraine who worries that his home country’s plight is being forgotten by some of the world.

Now, the Pope who inspired him has died.

You might imagine that he would be resentful and angry. Instead, he is full of smiles.

“We are happy to be the pilgrims of the world and this is a special day,” he tells me. “I know the pope used to pray in this basilica so that is why we will stay so long here to visit Santa Maria Maggiore.

“I think Pope Francis was, is and will be the pope for the world, because of the mercy of his heart and his love for everybody.”