Wilbur Ross: FDIC Meeting Was "Highly Productive"
FDIC chair Shiela Bair today held a five-hour, closed session with select members of the private equity industry, to discuss proposed rules that would govern future PE investment in banks. To say that many of these rules are unpopular with private equity pros would be an understatement, particularly capital requirement and cross-guarantee provisions. As Wilbur Ross accurately told the WSJ last week, the guidelines are "harsh and discriminatory." So it was with some surprise that Ross was even one of the 26 invitees to today's roundtable, let alone asked to lead the section on capital requirements. He left with his strong objections intact, but also believing that the meeting was "highly productive." "Sheila Bair seems truly interested in getting people's views," Ross told me during a phone conversation earlier tonight. "It was pretty obvious what my reaction had been, but she still had me chair part of the conversation and seated me next to her at lunch. I think it shows that the proposals really are still proposals at this point, and that she and others at the FDIC are serious about wanting input from people in the private equity industry."
