As bank failures pile up across the Southeast, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has named a new leader to oversee banking regulation across the region.
The FDIC on Friday said Thomas J. Dujenski will be the new director of the agency’s Atlanta regional office, which supervises banks in seven Southern states -- Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
Dujenski is an FDIC veteran who most recently headed up the Dallas regional office.
“He’s well-known, well thought of, tough as nails,” said Byron Richardson, an Atlanta banking consultant.
“He’s no-nonsense, by the book,” Richardson said. “When you go in there with a proposal, you better have all your T’s crossed, all the I’s dotted. You better be able to answer any question. He’s a one-man tribunal.”
Dujenski succeeds Mark Schmidt, who moved to the FDIC’s Washington office last year amid a shakeup that saw several top Atlanta regional managers move to other FDIC offices.
Banks in the region have been reeling from losses tied to the battered real estate industry, particularly in Georgia and Florida that financed new home construction. Since August 2008, 35 banks have failed in Georgia, more than in any other state. Florida ranks fourth with 18.
A spokesman for the FDIC said the agency routinely moves officials around the country to fill vacancies or as a promotion.
But Lee Bradley, an Atlanta financial consultant who often works with banks, said it’s clear that the FDIC has cleaned house in its Atlanta office.
The FDIC “feels the people who were here really missed the boat, so the idea is to bring people from other parts of the country who are not prejudiced” by previous dealings with the region’s banks, Bradley said.
Bradley said it’s unfair to blame the banking woes on the previous FDIC leadership in Atlanta.
“Did we make too many real estate loans? Yes, but [the problems] were more economically driven than necessarily bad management driven,” he said.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
