Bair's On Board With Obama

This morning's story on Bank.com's blog:

Sheila Bair Encouraged By Barack Obamas Foreclosure Ideas

"The chairperson of the FDIC, Sheila Bair, has been pushing an aggressive plan, modeled off of what was tried when IndyMac went under, to help stop foreclosures. Her efforts, though, have been running into opposition from the Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, as well as other prominent members of the Bush Administration. The current administration seems reluctant to fund such a comprehensive plan aimed at helping individual homeowners. Now, though, it seems as though she can bide her time and wait for a Barack Obama administration. Maybe Timothy Geithner will be a more compatible and understanding Treasury Secretary."

Bair has been standing out on a limb for some time now with her forward thinking ideas about mortgage modifications. As we discussed in an August post, Indy Mac's failure and quick takeover by FDIC in August provided Bair and team an opportunity to do things her way. The success or failure of the modification program is yet to be seen, but I'd be very surprised if President-elect Obama didn't keep her on board to see it through (and possibly help implement it with other banks/lenders).