Deeply troubled mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc. may have bought some time through sharp cuts in operations and selling some branches but its survival remains in question, creating a major test for banking regulators.

In particular the significant size of IndyMac’s deposits that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp might present a challenge. If the deposits, which total more than $17 billion, had to be guaranteed, that could temporarily dent the FDIC’s war chest of around $53 billion.

Major victims of the credit crisis to this point have either been the subject of rescues by bigger banks, as in the case of mortgage lender Countrywide and investment bank Bear Stearns, or weren’t major deposit-taking entities.

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