A Shopper's Guide to Bank Products and Services

Banks as Financial Supermarkets

Banks and savings institutions are increasingly becoming financial supermarkets offering investments and insurance products in addition to insured deposits. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities and other products now being sold by banks can be attractive alternatives to deposits because they may provide a higher rate of return.

This array of financial products available from banking institutions also offers great convenience and more choices to consumers. But you also need to remember that, unlike deposits, these other products are not FDIC-insured and, in some cases, could lose value.

To minimize potential confusion, banks and savings institutions are required to clearly differentiate FDIC-insured deposits from non-deposit investment and insurance products in their sales practices and advertisements

For more information on the array of products available from banking institutions, see One-Stop Shopping for Financial Services in the Spring 2001 issue of FDIC Consumer News at www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnspr01/cvrstry.html.

To learn more about which financial products offered by banking institutions are not FDIC-insured, go to www.fdic.gov/deposit/investments/index.html.