Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC)
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC) preserves and promotes public confidence in the U.S. financial
system by insuring deposits in banks and thrift institutions for up
to $100,000; by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to the
deposit insurance funds; and by limiting the effect on the economy
and the financial system when a bank or thrift institution fails.
An independent agency of the federal
government, the FDIC was created in 1933 in response to the thousands
of bank failures that occurred in the 1920s and early 1930s. Since
the start of FDIC insurance on January 1, 1934, no depositor has lost
a single cent of insured funds as a result of a failure.
The FDIC receives no Congressional appropriations
– it is funded by premiums that banks and thrift institutions
pay for deposit insurance coverage and from earnings on investments
in U.S. Treasury securities. With insurance funds totaling more than
$44 billion, the FDIC insures more than $3 trillion of deposits in
U.S. banks and thrifts – deposits in virtually every bank and
thrift in the country.
Savings, checking and other deposit
accounts, when combined, are generally insured up to $100,000 per
depositor in each bank or thrift the FDIC insures. Deposits held in
different categories of ownership – such as single or joint accounts
– may be separately insured. Also, the FDIC generally provides
separate coverage for retirement accounts, such as individual retirement
accounts (IRAs) and Keoghs. (The FDIC’s Electronic Deposit Insurance
Estimator can help you determine if you have adequate deposit insurance
for your accounts.
The FDIC insures deposits only. It does
not insure securities, mutual funds or similar types of investments
that banks and thrift institutions may offer. (Insured and Uninsured
Investments distinguishes between what is and is not protected by
FDIC insurance.)
The FDIC directly examines and supervises
about 5,300 banks and savings banks, more than half of the institutions
in the banking system. Banks can be chartered by the states or by
the federal government. Banks chartered by states also have the choice
of whether to join the Federal Reserve System.
The FDIC is the primary federal regulator of banks that are chartered
by the states that do not join the Federal Reserve System. In addition,
the FDIC is the back-up supervisor for the remaining insured banks
and thrift institutions.
To protect insured depositors, the FDIC
responds immediately when a bank or thrift institution fails. Institutions
generally are closed by their chartering authority – the state
regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or the Office
of Thrift Supervision. The FDIC has several options for resolving
institution failures, but the one most used is to sell deposits and
loans of the failed institution to another institution. Customers
of the failed institution automatically become customers of the assuming
institution. Most of the time, the transition is seamless from the
customer’s point of view.
The FDIC employs about 5,200 people.
It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but conducts much of its
business in six regional offices and in field offices around the country.
The FDIC is managed by a five-person
Board of Directors, all of whom are appointed by the President and
confirmed by the Senate, with no more than three being from the same
political party.
Additional FDIC links:
Affordable
housing program - Types of properties and who qualifies to buy
them
Real estate FAQs - Condition of properties,
financing, and making an offer.
Financial rights - Federal
and State laws
Release of lien - Obtaining a obtain
a "Release of Lien" if the bank or Savings and Loan has
failed
Financial privacy - You have a right
to financial privacy under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999.
Safe internet banking - Banks
and thrifts join the internet.
Visit The Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation
