WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair on Monday outlined ideas to tackle the so-called “robo-signing” crisis, saying that lenders, investors and borrowers could reach a broad pact on which foreclosures should be able to go forward.

At a housing finance conference sponsored by the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, Bair suggested that a “safe harbor” be provided to lenders permitting foreclosure if some minimum standards are met.

Bair recommended foreclosures go ahead “if the property is vacant or if the lender/servicer offered a meaningful payment reduction — say a minimum of 25% — and the borrower could still not perform on the loan.”

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair is sworn in to testify at a Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearing in September. Reuters

“Ultimately this problem will require some kind of global solution,” she added.

Bair’s comments come as the FDIC, the White House and other bank regulators have begun to expand their efforts to fight foreclosure fraud after some large institutions admitted they had used the tactic of “robo-signing,” where institutions assign one person to quickly approve numerous foreclosures with only cursory glances at the paperwork to determine whether all the documents are in order.

Preliminary results from a federal banking agency review of the largest mortgage servicing operations’ foreclosure practices are due next month, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said at the same conference.

Federal Reserve staff members and their counterparts at other federal agencies are evaluating the potential effects of these problems on the real estate market and financial institutions, Bernanke said.

Bair said the FDIC is working closely with other bank regulators to get to the bottom of the problem, adding that the agency’s initial review suggests that FDIC supervised state banks have limited exposure to the “robo-signing” situation.

Bair acknowledged that there were warning signs that the servicing standards were eroding, which should have caused market participants and regulators to question existing practices.

“Servicing fees declined significantly over the past several years,” Bair said. “We should have been asking how servicers were able to achieve such efficiencies without sacrificing quality,” Bair said. “Those kinds of questions were not asked.”

She added that she feared that litigation generated by this issue could ultimately be very damaging to the housing markets if it unduly prolongs foreclosures that are “necessary and justified.”

The White House opposes a national foreclosure moratorium, also on concerns about the impact a national ban would have on the housing market.

Prices on existing homes fell 2% in September, though the number of transactions rose 10%, according to data released earlier. See story on existing-home sales.