US FDIC scraps planned meeting on 'special assessment' for bank failures (updated)

Signature Bank

16/11/2023 16:58

(Adds context, comment from FDIC spokesperson)
       Nov 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation on Thursday abruptly canceled a planned public
meeting at which board members were due to consider approving
the collection of bank fees to recover losses from March's
failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
    The FDIC's board of directors will still decide on the
proposal but will do so "notationally" in private, according to
an FDIC spokesperson, who declined to comment on the reasons for
the change.
        The cancellation, which was announced about 15 minutes
after the meeting's scheduled start, came after a week in which
FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg faced 
    scathing criticism
     from lawmakers on Capitol Hill over his handling of
allegations of widespread sexual harassment inside the agency.
  
        The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported allegations
of sexual misconduct among staff between 2010 and 2022 at agency
outposts nationwide, citing interviews with more than 20 women
who had quit.
  
    Under a proposed rule unveiled in May, the roughly $16
billion cost of the bank failures would be collected in
quarterly payments over a two-year period, with 95% to be paid
by banks with more than $50 billion in assets. The final version
may be different.

 (Reporting by Douglas Gillison; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and
Nick Zieminski)
 ((douglas.gillison@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
@douglasgillison))