The Great Debate

– James Pethokoukis is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are his own –

It’s an unhealthy sign for the U.S. economy that the most fascinating, if not divisive, player on the financial stage is the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. But such is the case with Sheila Bair.

Although there is mounting evidence that the worst of the banking crisis may have passed, Bair continues to command center stage. The latest, if the unnamed sources chatting to the Wall Street Journal are to be believed, is that Bair wants to shake up top management at Citigroup. Presumably this would include the ouster of Citi’s chief executive, Vikram Pandit.

To be sure, Pandit would rank high on anyone’s list of “CEOs most likely not to make it to 2010.”

The Obama White House has mulled pushing out Pandit, but has hesitated to pull the trigger reportedly because of a lack of a compelling successor. And one could certainly make the argument that because of both moral hazard and governance issues, troubled banks should see management decapitated if forced to seek government support.

– James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own

Treasury Secretary Geithner is all but admitting that U.S. banks are suffering not from market failure but self-inflicted collateral damage.

The U.S. Treasury on Monday detailed an up to $1 trillion plan to buy up assets from banks in partnership with private investors, using financing bankrolled by the government, financing that is only secured by the value of the doubtful assets the fund buys.

One portion will be dedicated to buying complex securities from banks employing capital contributed by private investors and the government topped up with funds borrowed from the Federal Reserve. A second portion will buy older securities that are, or were, rated AAA, using, you guessed it, more non-recourse funding.

– James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –

Banks in the U.S. face a new source of write-downs and failures in the coming year as loans made to developers to finance residential and commercial property development rapidly go bad.

And as these loans are old-fashioned and concentrated in smaller banks, their fate is particularly interesting as it indicates that issues with the banking system go far deeper than the so-called “toxic assets” belonging to the largest lenders that have thus far gotten most of the attention and government aid.