Published October 8, 2026 at 4:00 PM CDT

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Sheila Bair has concerns about where things are headed with the American financial system. And she would certainly be the right person to ask.

She served as the chair of the FDIC for five years under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, a tenure that included the Great Recession back in 2008.

Bair is also a New York Times best-selling author of several financial education books for children and teens, and released a new book this year titled “How Not to Lose a Million Dollars.”

She told KCUR's Up To Date that she's troubled by the amount of financial deregulation that has happened during the second Trump administration. She is especially worried about the weakening of reforms passed on bank capital requirements and more
after the 2008 financial crisis.

“There is something called the leverage ratio that proved to be the best indicator of a bank's financial health, which we had to rely on during the crisis, and we strengthened those leverage ratio requirements after the crisis. But those have been really weakened,” she explained. “The leverage ratio capital levels are pretty much back to where they were for the big banks around 2009. So we're slipping backwards.”

Bair sees a lot of risk in the financial system right now.

“We’re seeing a lot of risky lending with these private credit funds, which are also funded by banks. There’s turmoil in the treasury market that exposed banks to risk because banks hold a lot of treasury debt, and that debt loses value when interest rate go up, as they’re doing now. I can go on. Concentrations in the AI industry... there are lots of sources of fragility.”

• Sheila Bair, former FDIC chair, author

Truman Medal for Economic Policy Award Ceremony, 6 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. award ceremony. Thursday, Oct. 15 at the Truman Forum, Kansas City Public Library Plaza Branch, 4810 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri, 64112.