On November 12, 2009, the FDIC Board of Directors, after carefully considering the public interest in disclosure and the Congressionally mandated objective of the FDIC to achieve the least costly resolution of failed banks, determined that the FDIC, in processing responses to FOIA requests for bid information for failed bank transactions and asset sales taking place subsequent to May 2009, will provide:
- Winning bid and the name of the winning bidder;
- Names of all losing bidders and the losing bid amounts, except for the cover bid (second-best bid, which comes from a bidder other than the winning bidder) and name of the cover bidder, in a manner that de-links losing bidders’ names from their bid amounts. However, in cases where there is a total of three bidders, the name of the cover bidder, but not the cover bid, will also be provided;
- Cover bid and the name of the cover bidder in all such transactions and sales one year after the transaction or sale has closed; and
- General methodology for determining that the winning bid in failed bank transactions was the least costly bid.
The foregoing bid, bidder, and methodology information on failed bank sales transactions will be made available under the FOIA, with only very limited information about such transactions (the cover bid) being temporarily withheld to avoid impairment of the FDIC's statutory program for failed bank resolutions and asset sales.