For many in the insurance industry, the Resolution Trust Corp. (RTC) was a mere footnote in the history books–even though the RTC, as a result of the savings and loan crisis, closed almost 750 thrifts between its enactment in 1989 and the end of its charter in 1995.

Since 2007, regulators have closed more than 120 banks and credit unions. While most of those failures have been a result of the housing decline and residential mortgage defaults, there is a new crop of troubled institutions succumbing to the pressure of deteriorating construction and commercial real estate loans.

Lenders also are under considerable scrutiny to ensure they are correctly determining flood zones, acquiring adequate evidence of flood insurance and tracking the continuation of flood insurance for the term of the mortgages they hold. Regulators have tallied significant monetary fines for lenders who are not diligent in these tasks. Such fines put additional strain on lenders struggling to adapt to an ever-changing regulatory environment.