The FDIC has developed a comprehensive, long-range management plan for the Deposit Insurance Fund. The plan is designed to reduce pro-cyclicality; keep assessment rates moderate, steady, and predictable throughout economic and credit cycles; and maintain a positive fund balance even during a period of large fund losses. This article presents the FDIC analysis that informed the medium- and long-term elements of the plan. Using multiple simulations, this analysis demonstrates that a moderate, long-term average industry assessment rate, combined with an appropriate dividend or assessment rate reduction policy, would have prevented the fund from becoming negative during both the crises of the 1980s and early 1990s and the current crisis. However, the fund’s reserve ratio would have had to have exceeded 2 percent before the crises began.
Last Updated: November 19, 2025