More than 50 lawsuits against officers and executives of failed banks have been authorized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as the agency tries to recoup more than $1 billion in losses from the credit crisis, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

The lawsuits haven’t been made public. The agency, which has shut 294 lenders since start of 2008, has held off court action while it was conducting settlement talks with the executives, whose actions may have led to the bank collapses, FDIC’s acting general counsel said.

“We’re ready to go,” he said. “We could walk into court tomorrow and file the lawsuits.”

The FDIC has brought only one case against executives tied to recent collapses — a July lawsuit filed against four executives of IndyMac Bancorp Inc. seeking $300 million in damages.