Indeed, our decentralized and diverse banking structure was arguably the key to weathering the financial crisis of the late 1980s. During those dark days, our system was able to absorb more than a thousand U.S. bank failures.
And yet here we are, less than a decade later, with loan loss reserves and bank capital at their highest levels in almost a half century, and the insurance fund restored to its maximum coverage ratio -- all without cost to the taxpayer.