peHUB First Read

* The FDIC will vote at 3:30pm today on new rules governing PE investment in banks. An agency spokesman says that the revised rules themselves will be publicly released simultaneous to the vote, as will an effective date (this seems to be typical FDIC policy, but there also are numerous reports that the final language is still being hammered out). In the meantime, the AP suggests that the FDIC’s expected softening on certain provisions has been promoted by pragmatism — banks keep failing and buyers are needed. That’s certainly part of it, but there’s also another factor: Certain parts of the original FDIC proposal were poorly-throught out, and were not written with a comprehensive understanding of how private equity funds are structured.

* How long does it take to build a technology empire?

* A bigtime Democratic fundraiser has been charged with trying to defraud Citigroup. He also happens to run a little-known private equity shop.

* Morning Call: U.S. futures move higher, London flattens early, European shares sag on commodities, the Nikkei hits 10-month closing high and China shares ride earnings momentum.

* MG Siegler on Twitter’s Golden Ratio (which no one likes to tak about).

* Mohamed El-Erian: Ben Bernanke’s four-point to-do list.

* Sam Diaz: RSS is a Web 1.0 application whose time has come and gone.

* Omidyar Network makes a $2 million grant to the Wikipedia Foundation.

* John Kay: Banks have been brought down by a new Peter Principle.

* Saudi Arabia is sick of hearing the U.S. talk about “energy independence.”

* Alan Murray interviews Tim Geithner, and uses some of the Digg questions: