BANKING: Is It Broke Yet?

With banks failing at the rate of one every two days, will the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's bailout fund run out of money soon? That fear was magnified last week when the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the fund, which contains only $8.5 billion to cover $2 trillion in deposits, could run dry by the end of the year because the recession has aggravated the cost of bank failures. The FDIC may need to borrow $11 billion from the Treasury to keep from going broke, the CBO predicted. The House Budget Committee further undermined confidence in the FDIC by criticizing its 1988 rescue of First Republic Bank of Dallas, charging that "preposterous tax breaks" could double the original cost estimates of more than $2 billion.

FDIC Chairman L. William Seidman disputed the CBO's bleak prediction, contending that the insurance fund would remain "solvent but weak." Seidman said the banking industry could bolster the fund without help from taxpayers. But Seidman did acknowledge that if the recession lasts for more than a year, the fund will run dry by the end of 1991 and run a deficit of more than $5 billion in 1992.