bad bank
n.βGloss: A government-run bank that intentionally takes on the bad debts and deals of another bank that is in financial jeopardy. Β«Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Missouri, condemns the term βbad bank.β He says the term does not exactly inspire support for the program. Maybe it should be called the βDamascus Roadβ bank, he says, or maybe the Fed should have a linguist look into something else more appealing. Mr. Bernanke replies that itβs officially called an βaggregator bank,β not a βbad bank.β Mr. Cleaver says that term is unlikely to catch on, and that perhaps a three-year-old should come up with something that rolls a bit more trippingly off the tongue.Β» ββLive-Blogging the Bernanke Hearing” by Catherine Rampell New York Times: Economix Feb. 10, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)