FDIC plans to seek stakes in buyers of failed banks

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plans to seek stakes in the companies bidding for seized banks, aiming to gain when the shares rise and helping recoup the costs of closing lenders.

The arrangement would let the agency share any profits from an increase in the buyer’s stock after a takeover, said James Wigand, the FDIC’s deputy director of resolutions and receiverships.

The regulator intends to ask more banks to share any gains after it received $23.3 million from New York Community Bancorp Inc. when the lender acquired the assets of Cleveland-based AmTrust Bank.

“The market has been evolving to the point where these types of structures make more sense,” Wigand said Wednesday. “But it won’t work for every transaction.”

Bank failures have reached 140 this year, the most since 1992, as soured commercial real estate loans and mortgage defaults hurt U.S. lenders. The FDIC said Dec. 15 that it was boosting its budget 56% to $4 billion for next year and increasing staff 23% to 8,653 to manage bank closings.