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Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation

Each depositor insured to at least $250,000 per insured bank



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2008 Annual Report



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Who is the 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 at least $250,000; 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 Family Circus Cartoon Strip

The FDIC receives no Congressional appropriations – it is instead funded by premiums that banks and thrift institutions pay for deposit insurance coverage and from earnings on investments in U.S. Treasury securities. With an insurance fund totaling $17.3 billion, the FDIC insures a total of more than $4 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 to $250,000 per depositor in each bank or thrift the FDIC insures. (On October 3, 2008, FDIC deposit insurance temporarily increased from $100,000 to $250,000 per depositor through December 31, 2009.) 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, insured up to $250,000. The FDIC’s Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator can help consumers determine whether they have adequate deposit insurance for their 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.)

In addition to providing deposit insurance, the FDIC directly examines and supervises about 5,098 banks and savings banks, more than half of the institutions in the U.S. banking system. Banks can be chartered either by any individual state 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 state-chartered banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System. The FDIC also serves as 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 – which then in turn appoints the FDIC as receiver for the failed institution. 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 5,034 people. It is headquartered in Washington, DC, 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.

75 Years of Quality Service
Year Chairman
2006-Current Sheila C. Bair
75th Anniversary in 2008
2005 Martin J. Gruenberg (Acting)
2001-04 Donald E. Powell
1998-2000 Donna Tanoue
1997 Andrew C. Hove, Jr (Acting)
1994-96 Ricki Helfer
1992-93 Andrew C. Hove, Jr (Acting)
1991 William Taylor
1985-91 L. William Seidman
1981-84 William M. Isaac
50th Anniversary in 1983
1978-80 Irvine H. Sprague
1977 George A. Lemaistre
1976 Robert E. Barnett
1970-75 Frank Wille
1964-69 K. A. Randall
1963 Joseph W. Barr
1960-62 Erle Cocke, Sr.
1957-59 Jesse P. Wolcott
25th Anniversary In 1958
1952-56 H.E. Cook
1945-51 Maple T. Harl
1934-44 Leo T. Crowley
1933-34 Walter J. Cummings
Congress created FDIC in 1933

 


Last Updated 06/18/2009 communications@fdic.gov

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