The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is set to decide on rules governing private equity investments in banks in the next several weeks. At issue: Proposed rules that require private equity firms that buy troubled banks to maintain tier 1 capital ratio at 15 percent of assets. That's three times higher than other banks, the Financial Times notes.

Buy-out funds would also be prevented from selling lenders for three years. The private equity industry has argued that these are unfair burdens and work to the detriment of the financial bailout. While we've seen some private equity firms make bids for banks. None have materialized in the past few weeks, as the proposed rules loom. Pension funds, who certainly would like better performance on their private equity portfolios, have weighed on the side of the private equity industry. It does seem like the FDIC is open to lower capital requirements. But we'll have to see how low they'll go.

For more:
- here's the article

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