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Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act FIRREA

The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act is a 1989 law passed in response to a series of savings and loan failures during the 1980s.The Act provides a comprehensive regulatory and enforcement apparatus that establishes higher minimum capital requirements and sets stricter operating standards for all savings institutions.

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The Act provides a comprehensive regulatory and enforcement apparatus that establishes higher minimum capital requirements and sets stricter operating standards for all savings institutions. Among other provisions, FIRREA imposes a three-tier schedule of civil monetary penalties that may be assessed against institutions and their directors and officers for breaches of fiduciary duty. FIRREA also grants regulatory agencies the power to disapprove a "troubled" savings institution's appointment of any director or senior executive officer and to remove or suspend any director or officer found guilty of certain specified acts. FIRREA also holds directors and officers of savings institutions personally liable for monetary damages in civil actions brought by regulatory agencies in cases of gross negligence.