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In order to increase the pool of bidders on failed and failing insured depository institutions that the FDIC is selling as receiver for such depository institutions, the federal banking regulators recently adopted special pre-clearance procedures to enable parties that do not already own an insured depository institution, most notably private equity funds, to qualify as bidders. The intent is to obtain sufficient information from such potential bidders in advance of any bidding process so that they can obtain, on a conditional basis, the three approvals that are needed to be qualified to bid on failing and failed insured depository institutions: obtaining a bank charter from the Comptroller of the Currency, obtaining deposit insurance from the FDIC, and obtaining approval to become a bank holding company from the Federal Reserve. If such a potential bidder is then selected by the FDIC to acquire a failed insured depository institution, it will be in a position to obtain, within a very short time period, final approvals from the OCC, the FDIC and the Federal Reserve. The attached memorandum describes these pre-clearance procedures.