2008 Survey of Banks' Efforts to Serve the Unbanked and Underbanked

In 2008, the FDIC conducted the first nationwide survey of FDIC-insured depository institutions ("banks") to assess their efforts to serve unbanked and underbanked individuals and families. Pursuant to Section 7 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Conforming Amendments Act of 2005 ("Reform Act"), the survey asked banks about their efforts to bring individuals and families who have rarely, if ever, held a checking account, a savings account or other type of transaction or check-cashing account at an insured depository institution into the conventional finance system.

The bank survey was voluntary and consisted of mail-in survey questionnaires administered to a nationally representative random stratified sample of about 1,300 financial institutions with a response rate of 54 percent (685 complete surveys). The bank survey effort also included 16 case studies developed from in-depth interviews with banks that appeared to be successfully developing business opportunities with unbanked and/or underbanked individuals.

The bank survey results are summarized in an Executive Summary prepared by the FDIC.

Complete survey results are contained in the full report prepared by Dove Consulting, which the FDIC retained to help administer the survey. The report was transmitted to Congress by the Chairman of the FDIC along with the Executive Summary of Survey Findings and Recommendations, in accordance with the Reform Act.

Executive Summary

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• FDIC Survey of Banks' Efforts to Serve the Unbanked and Underbanked: Executive Summary of Survey Findings and Recommendations, February, 2009 - PDF 351k

Full Report

• Banks' Efforts to Serve the Unbanked and Underbanked Report 2.5MB
• Chapter 1: Study Summary - PDF 255k
• Chapters 2-3: Bank Characteristics and Methodology - PDF
• Chapter 4: Financial Education and Outreach Efforts - PDF 535k
• Chapters 5-7: Obstacles and Access - PDF 885k
• Chapters 8-11: Products and Services - PDF 620k
• Chapter 12: Case Studies - PDF 380k
• Appendix A: Survey Instrument - PDF
• Appendix B: Retail Bank and Deposit Summary Statistics - PDF

Press Releases

• Press Release 02/05/2009: FDIC Releases First National Survey of Banks' Efforts to Serve the Unbanked and Underbanked
• Press Release 04/11/2008: FDIC to Conduct First Nationwide Survey of Banks' Efforts to Bring "Unbanked" Consumers Into Economic Mainstream