The past three years have seen a plague of bank failures tied to the collapse of the real estate market and related securities markets: 25 banks went under in 2008, 140 in 2009 and 157 in 2010. Compare these numbers with 2007, during which just three banks failed. These are dangerous and uncertain times for banks, and for the professionals – attorneys, accountants, appraisers, brokers — who provide services to them.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), in its role as regulator and receiver, acquires the rights to assert claims for losses caused by the wrongful conduct of the directors and officers who were at the helm, as well as by their outside professional service providers, for their errors and omissions. To investigate and pursue such claims, the FDIC has formed a Professional Liability Operation, which in every instance of bank failure opens an investigation into the possibility of asserting D&O as well as E&O claims.
