Regulatory Actions Double

DALLAS, March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Regulatory actions against U.S. financial institutions more than doubled last year, according to the Fourth-Quarter 2009 Regulatory Actions report from MortgageDaily.com. The latest list of troubled institutions suggests bank failures might increase before they slow.

In 2009, approximately 1,311 regulatory orders were issued against banks, credit unions and thrifts. The activity reflects actions by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve, National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision.

The number of actions more than doubled from 587 orders and actions in 2008.

During just the fourth quarter, 412 actions were tracked, higher than the prior quarter and more than twice as many as in the same period in 2008. Fourth-quarter-2009 activity was higher than during any quarter since MortgageDaily.com began tracking regulatory actions in 2008.

Quarterly Actions

    
    
    
     Q4 2009     Q3 2009     Q4-2008
       412         *340       *189
    

*revised

More than 160 cease-and-desist orders were issued during the latest quarter, the most of any order type and nearly two-thirds more than were issued in the third quarter. Banks that fail often face cease-and-desist orders prior to their demise.

"The growth in cease-and-desist orders is most troubling and suggests that the pace of bank failures is likely to pick up," said MortgageDaily.com Publisher Sam Garcia. "We've also seen an uptick in the number of people being banned from banking."

The number of prompt corrective actions and removal-and-prohibition orders doubled from the previous quarter. Written and formal agreements -- which often require changes in operations, policies and management -- jumped past 80.

    
    
    
    Type of Order                      Q4 2009
    Agreement                              86
    Cease-and-Desist                      162
    Civil Money Penalty                    52
    Prompt Corrective Action               20
    Removal-and-Prohibition                63
    
    

The FDIC was the busiest regulator, taking nearly 200 actions during the most recent period. FDIC activity was up more than a fifth from the previous period, while OCC actions were up a quarter and OTS orders rose 16 percent.

    
    
    
    Regulator     Q4 2009
    FDIC             194
    Fed               58
    NCUA              13
    OCC               69
    OTS               78
      TOTAL          412
    
    

The full regulatory actions report is available at: http://www.mortgagedaily.com/RegulatoryActions.asp?spcode=pr

Complete regulatory news is available at: http://www.mortgagedaily.com/news/Regulatory.asp?spcode=pr

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Founded in 1998, http://www.MortgageDaily.com provides online mortgage news and analysis for the mortgage industry. Around 1 million news pages are viewed monthly at MortgageDaily.com and its affiliate publications.

SOURCE MortgageDaily.com