FDIC banks on Internet tool

A lengthy, paper-based process is on its way out at the Federal Deposit

Insurance Corporation.

Instead, FDIC will use an Internet-based solution from IntraLinks to

manage the due diligence process for troubled bank franchise sales.

The FDIC insures deposits at the nation's 10,101 banks and savings associations.

When one of those institutions fails, the FDIC attempts to return assets

to solvent financial institutions immediately to avoid a collapse in the

banking system.

Now, as it oversees the sale of troubled banks' assets, the FDIC will

use "digital workspaces," IntraLinks' secure online environments for project

and transaction management, said Peter Coddington, vice president of federal

and legal matters at the New York-based company.

The solution will enable the FDIC to have sensitive documents securely

and instantly deployed to a large group of bidders and track the results.

"Digital workspaces allow companies or organizations or federal agencies

to do document-intensive tasks in a secure environement on the Web," Coddington

said.

Before the move online, the FDIC had rooms in its Washington, D.C.,

headquarters and at its Dallas office that housed boxloads of paper documents.

Other banks had to physically come and look to do the due diligence work.

"Now they have all of that information on the Web, and they grant permission

to interested parties to look at it, and they can close the deal online,"

Coddington said.

IntraLinks had been doing a pilot at the FDIC for about a year. Based

on its success, a competitive request for proposals went out, which the

company eventually won, Coddington said.

The solution is being used at the FDIC, and the four-year deal is based

on a subscription-per-workstation agreement. Financial terms were not disclosed.