Loss Exposure and the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation
Darryl E. Getter
Specialist in Financial Economics
May 6, 2010
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R41226
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress
Loss Exposure and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Summary
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was established as an independent
government corporation under the authority of the Banking Act of 1933, also known as the Glass-
Steagall Act (P.L. 73-66, 48 Stat. 162, 12 U.S.C.), to insure bank deposits. The FDIC is funded
through insurance assessments collected from its member depository institutions and held in what
is now known as the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF). The proceeds in the DIF are used to pay
depositors if member institutions fail.
Beginning in 2008, the number of bank failures has increased substantially, and the DIF is
currently below its statutory minimum requirement. As a result, the FDIC has raised assessments
on member depository institutions during a banking downturn, which has drawn attention to a
procyclical bias in assessments. The FDIC, therefore, has made efforts to revise deposit insurance
assessments to better reflect the total loss exposure to the DIF.
This report begins with an overview of the FDIC, followed by an explanation of the loss exposure
and total risk to the DIF. Next, the report discusses issues regarding the setting of deposit
insurance premiums and presents changes to the assessment system proposed by the FDIC to
address some of the issues. Finally, recent efforts proposed by Congress to support the DIF are
discussed. H.R. 2897, the Bank Accountability and Risk Assessment Act of 2009 (Representative
Luis Gutierrez et al.); H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009
(Representative Barney Frank et al.); and S. 3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act
of 2010 (Senator Christopher Dodd) address modifications to the deposit insurance assessment
system. Appendices to this report provide information regarding the FDIC’s efforts to support the
DIF during the recent period of financial distress, which includes information about the
Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.
This report will be updated as events warrant.
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Loss Exposure and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
Bank Insolvency and Loss Exposure ........................................................................................... 2
FDIC Efforts to Reduce Loss Exposure ....................................................................................... 4
Legislative Efforts to Reduce Loss Exposure............................................................................... 7
Appendixes
Appendix A. Recent FDIC Actions to Replenish the Deposit Insurance Fund............................... 9
Appendix B. Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program .............................................................. 11
Contacts
Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 12
Congressional Research Service
Loss Exposure and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Introduction
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was established as an independent
government corporation under the authority of the Banking Act of 1933, also known as the Glass-
Steagall Act, to insure bank deposits.1 The FDIC insures demand deposit (non-interest bearing)
accounts, interest bearing checking accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit.2 The
FDIC also insures traditional and Roth Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).3 Bank deposits
and IRAs in the same bank for the same individual are insured separately by the FDIC.4
When a bank is insolvent or has failed, according to the FDIC, the depositors need not worry
about repayment of principal up to the deposit insurance limits. Typically, most depositors have
access to their insured funds within one business day after the FDIC closes the bank. With certain
deposits, such as 401(k) accounts and retirement accounts, additional time is required to make an
insurance determination. The FDIC estimates that this should not be longer than several days. In
some situations, depositors may also receive a portion of their uninsured funds, depending on the
sale of the failed bank’s assets, a process which may take one or two years.5
To help discourage runs or panics on banks, Congress has periodically increased the amount of
deposit insurance coverage.6 For example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act, which was
enacted on February 8, 2006, raised the limit on IRA insurance from $100,000 to $250,000.7 The
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 temporarily raised deposit insurance until
December 31, 2009.8 Under the new 2008 deposit insurance limits, an individual checking
account may be covered up to $250,000 and an IRA may be covered up to $250,000. An
individual having both of these accounts would receive total coverage of up to $500,000 in a
1 P.L. 73-66, 48 Stat. 162, 12 U.S.C. See Christine Bradley, A Historical Perspective on Deposit Insurance, Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, FDIC Banking Review, Washington, DC, December 2000, p. 3, http://www.fdic.gov/
bank/analytical/banking/2000dec/brv13n2_1.pdf.
2 In addition, the FDIC insures Money Market Deposit Accounts, which are savings accounts that allow a limited
number of checks to be written each month, Negotiable Orders of Withdrawal (NOW), and outstanding cashiers’
checks. See CRS Report RL33036, Federal Financial Services Regulatory Consolidation: An Overview, by Walter W.
Eubanks.
3 The FDIC also insures the following retirement accounts: Keogh retirement accounts for the self-employed, 457 Plan
retirement accounts for state government employees, and employer-sponsored defined contribution plan retirement
accounts that are self-directed, which are primarily 401(k) accounts and include SIMPLE 401(k) accounts, Simplified
Employee Pension (SEP) IRAs, and Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees (SIMPLE) IRAs. See CRS Report
RS21987, When Financial Businesses Fail: Protection for Account Holders, by Walter W. Eubanks.
4 The FDIC does not insure stocks, bonds, mutual funds, money market funds, life insurance policies, annuities, or
municipal securities, even if these products were purchased from an insured bank. The FDIC does not insure the
contents of safe deposit boxes, losses due to theft or fraud at the bank, losses due to accounting errors, and investments
backed by the U.S. government, such as Treasury securities and Savings Bonds. See Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, FDIC Consumer News - Spring 2001, FDIC, Washington, DC, 2001, http://www.fdic.gov/CONSUMERS/
consumer/news/cnspr01/cvrstry.html.
5 FDIC, FDIC Consumer News , Fall 2008 – Special Edition: Your New, Higher FDIC Insurance Coverage,
Washington, DC, 2008, http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnfall08/misconceptions.html.
6 On October 14, 2008, the FDIC announced the creation of the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program to encourage
liquidity in the banking system. See Appendix B.
7 P.L. 109-171, 110 Stat. 9.
8 P.L. 110-343. See also CRS Report RL34730, Troubled Asset Relief Program: Legislation and Treasury
Implementation, by Baird Webel and Edward V. Murphy.
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single bank. On May 20, 2009, P.L. 111-22 made the increase in deposit insurance effective until
December 31, 2013.9
To cover losses or costs associated with bank failures, the FDIC collects insurance premiums
from member depository institutions and places the monies in the Deposit Insurance Fund
(DIF).10 The designated reserve ratio (DRR), which is the ratio of total funds in the DIF relative
to the estimated amount of insured deposits, provides some indication about the adequacy of
reserves available to protect depositors and maintain public confidence. The FDIC is required by
statute to set the DRR within a range of 1.15% to 1.50%, and the FDIC currently has set the DRR
at 1.25%.11 Should the DIF fall below its statutorily mandated range, the FDIC is then required to
devise a restoration plan to recapitalize the fund. A well-capitalized DIF would likely maintain
public confidence in the FDIC’s ability to protect deposits.
In 2008, the FDIC administered 25 bank failures; 140 banks failed in 2009 according to the
FDIC’s Quarterly Banking Report as of December 31, 2009.12 In comparison, the FDIC
administered no bank failures in 2005 and 2006, and only three bank failures in 2007. The DRR,
which was 1.25% at the end of December 2005, was -0.39% as of December 31, 2009. By the end
of the fourth quarter 2009, there were also 709 depository institutions on the FDIC’s problem list,
which suggests that the industry may experience more bank failures. Large losses to the DIF have
come from such failures as IndyMac Bank, Downey Savings and Loan, PFF Bank and Trust,
Franklin Bank, and First National Bank of Nevada. Consequently, the FDIC has required its
member institutions to prepay assessments for 2010, 2011, and 2012 to obtain the funds necessary
to repay depositors.13
The rest of this report begins with a description of the loss exposure to the DIF, which generally
exceeds the dollar amount necessary to protect insured depositors. A discussion follows on issues
regarding the pricing of deposit insurance. A summary of changes to the assessment system
proposed by the FDIC to address some of the issues is also presented. Finally, recent efforts
proposed by Congress to support the DIF are discussed. H.R. 2897, the Bank Accountability and
Risk Assessment Act of 2009 (Representative Luis Gutierrez et al.); H.R. 4173, the Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (Representative Barney Frank et al.); and S. 3217,
the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (Senator Christopher Dodd) address
modifications to the deposit insurance assessment system.
Bank Insolvency and Loss Exposure
Bank assets are the consumer and commercial loans that banks originate and hold in portfolio;
bank liabilities are the funds that banks borrow to provide loans to consumers and businesses.
9 P.L. 111-22, Section 204.
10 See http://www.fdic.gov/news/board/May22no2.pdf.
11 See http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/insurance/initiative/Designated.html and CRS Report RL34657, Financial
Institution Insolvency: Federal Authority over Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Depository Institutions, by David H.
Carpenter and M. Maureen Murphy.
12 See http://www2.fdic.gov/qbp/2009dec/qbp.pdf. For the FDIC’s complete Failed Bank List see http://www.fdic.gov/
bank/individual/failed/banklist.html. For a brief description of each bank failure seehttp://www.fdic.gov/BANK/
HISTORICAL/BANK/index.html.
13 For more information on recent FDIC actions to replenish the DIF, see Appendix A.
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Whenever customers make savings or checking deposits into a bank, the bank is essentially
borrowing from depositors and using the proceeds to originate loans. A bank typically borrows
the funds from its depositors for shorter periods of time with the expectation that its short-term
borrowings must be continuously renewed until the longer-term consumer loans are repaid. For
example, suppose a bank makes a consumer loan with a duration of two years. Over the life of the
consumer loan, the bank may “fund the loan” or borrow cash from depositors in a sequence of
quarterly periods (for a total of eight short-term loans) or monthly periods (for a total of 24 short-
term loans).
Deposits have traditionally been considered the most stable and inexpensive source of funding for
customer loans, in particular for community banks, because depositors typically are the least
sensitive to short-term interest rate fluctuations.14 Banks also fund loans from creditors that are
not depositors. They may borrow funds via participation in the federal funds market, using
repurchase agreements, obtaining advances (loans) from the Federal Home Loan Bank System
(FHLB), and some of the larger banks may issue short-term commercial paper. Although banks
frequently refinance their short-term borrowings with depositors and non-deposit creditors, their
assets are relatively less liquid. The composition of the short-term liabilities of a financial
institution will change more often than the composition of its long-term assets, which means that
total amounts of insured deposits are estimates at any point in time and not known with certainty
until an institution fails.15
If the bank’s activities are unable to generate enough income to repay depositors principal and
interest, then the bank becomes insolvent.16 The FDIC uses a similar definition to determine the
solvency of a bank expressed in the form of a ratio. A capital-asset ratio is computed by dividing
the bank’s capital by its assets. The FDIC computes a variety of capital-asset ratios, using various
accounting methods and asset risk-weighting methods to determine the healthiness of a bank.
These are commonly known as the total risk-based capital, tier 1 risk-based capital, tier 1
leverage, and tangible equity ratios. Under-capitalized banks, which typically have capital-asset
ratios that are below the FDIC’s minimum thresholds, would be considered insolvent. If a bank
lacks sufficient capital, the regulator or chartering authority may shut it down and appoint the
FDIC as the receiver.
As the receiver of a failed bank, the FDIC determines the least costly resolution transaction by
evaluating possible resolution alternatives and then computing the costs on a net present value
basis. The FDIC is required by law to pursue the least-costly transaction to minimize the impact
on taxpayers.17 Typically, the least-costly transaction will involve some form of the purchase and
14 The cost to fund bank assets with deposits increases when households shift from holding assets in the form of bank
deposits to non-bank investment vehicles, which may offer higher returns, or when deposit insurance premiums
increase. For more information on the decline of core deposits and the impact on small banks, see
http://www.kansascityfed.org/banking/bankingpublications/prs01-4.pdf.
15 See Andrew M. Davenport, Joseph V. Fellerman, and Lynn Shibut, et al., An Evaluation of the Denominator of the
Reserve Ratio, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FDIC Staff Study, Washington, DC, February 12, 2007,
http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/insurance/initiative/Denominator_Board.pdf.
16 Note that a bank does not have to be insolvent to be illiquid. A bank can hold more of its assets in the form of loans
as opposed to cash. If, however, those assets cannot quickly be turned into cash, the bank may face cash flow problems,
perhaps if there is an unusual demand for cash by depositors.
17 See testimony of Mitchell L. Glassman, Director of the Division of Resolutions and Receiverships at the FDIC, at
http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/speeches/chairman/spjan2110.html.
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assumption (P&A) process.18 A P&A is a resolution transaction in which a healthy institution
purchases some or all of the assets (outstanding loans) of a failed bank or thrift and assumes some
or all of the liabilities (deposits).19 The FDIC seeks bids from qualified institutions for the failed
bank’s assets.20 Once the FDIC accepts the bid that is judged to be the least-costly option to the
DIF, it then closes the failed bank.
Despite the mandate to pursue the least-costly resolution, the total losses to the DIF generally
exceed the costs of reimbursing depositors. For one reason, the composition of a financial
institution’s liabilities normally changes more often than the composition of its assets as
previously discussed, which makes it difficult to know exactly the amount of insured deposits
until after the failure has occurred. Furthermore, some of the bank creditors may require
repayment ahead of depositors. For example, suppose a bank funded some of its assets with
FHLB advances. Upon failure, the FDIC must repay the FHLB advance immediately since
advances have priority over depositors (or “super lien” status), and the prepayment fees assessed
by the FHLB could be an additional cost to the DIF.21
Another reason for the difficulties associated with predicting DIF loss exposure has to do with the
additional costs associated with administering a bank failure. The FDIC often provides assistance
to or enters into loss sharing agreements with acquirers. This assistance limits the amount of
potential losses that may arise from loans transferred to the books of acquiring institutions that
could threaten their solvency. Any assets not purchased by an acquirer must be liquidated by the
FDIC.22 Hence, the losses to the DIF are not limited to reimbursement costs of insured depositors.
The costs associated with resolving a bank failure also apply.
FDIC Efforts to Reduce Loss Exposure
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 granted the FDIC authority
to implement a risk-based assessment system, and this was put in place on January 1, 1993.23
Under a risk-based assessment system, financial institutions that pose more risk to the DIF are
assessed higher deposit insurance premiums relative to those that pose lower risks. The Deposit
Insurance Funds Act of 1996, however, mandated that institutions that are both well-capitalized
18 Although the FDIC has various resolution options and chooses the least costly one, the P&A process is the most
frequently used option. See CRS Report RL34657, Financial Institution Insolvency: Federal Authority over Fannie
Mae, Freddie Mac, and Depository Institutions, by David H. Carpenter and M. Maureen Murphy; Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation, Managing the Crisis: The FDIC and RTC Experience 1980-1994 (Washington, DC: Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, 1998) at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/managing/contents.pdf; and
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/managing/history1-02.pdf for more details regarding the resolution process.
19 See Chapter 3 of the FDIC’s Resolution Handbook at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/reshandbook/ch3pas.pdf.
20 Qualified institutions are those that obtain approval from their chartering authorities. See http://www.fdic.gov/
buying/financial/index.html for more information about the qualification process for financial institutions wanting to
participate in an FDIC asset sale.
21 For more information about the FHLB’s super lien status, see http://www.fdic.gov/about/learn/advisorycommittee/
fhlb_advances.html , http://www.fdic.gov/about/learn/advisorycommittee/minutes111903.html, and CRS Report
R41102, The Federal Home Loan Bank System and Resolution of a Failure, by N. Eric Weiss and Todd Garvey. For
information on the National Depositor Preference Law, which stipulates the priority of payment structure that the FDIC
must follow to resolve depository failures, see http://www.clevelandfed.org/Research/commentary/1994/0215.pdf.
22 For information regarding some of the unusual bank assets that the FDIC has had to liquidate after various bank
failures, see http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/managing/Chron/1933-79/.
23 P.L. 102-242. See http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/insurance/assessments/rate_cases.html.
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and received high examination ratings should not be charged premiums when the DIF is at or
above the statutorily set DRR.24 Academic studies argued that this limitation injected a
procyclical bias into the pricing of deposit insurance.25 In other words, the DIF would not be
permitted to accumulate reserves in excess of the DRR during financially stable periods;
consequently, deposit premiums may increase dramatically during a financial downturn, when it
is more difficult for banks to maintain sufficient profitability.
In 2001, FDIC Chair Donna Tanoue testified that this statutory provision resulted in 92% of
insured depository institutions in the FDIC’s best-risk category not having to pay deposit
insurance assessments, which rendered its risk-based premium system ineffective.26 For this
reason, the FDIC requested elimination of the statutory restrictions on its ability to charge risk-
based premiums to all institutions even when the DIF level exceeds its statutory requirement. On
February 8, 2006, the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 (the Reform Act) was
signed by the President into law, giving the FDIC the authority to charge premiums, after notice
and comment rulemaking, based upon the riskiness of the institutions, regardless of the level of
the DRR.27 The FDIC then proposed new risk-based deposit premium assessments on July 16,
2006, and these were approved on November 2, 2006.28 The FDIC is still unable to collect
assessments, however, when the DIF exceeds 1.35% at the end of a calendar year. Given that the
Reform Act requires the FDIC to rebate excess assessments in the form of dividends to financial
institutions, a procyclical bias in the pricing of deposit assessments still exists.29
On April 8, 2010, the FDIC announced proposed revisions to the current system of determining
assessments via a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) on Assessments.30 The new system
takes a formal risk analysis approach, similar to methodologies used in credit underwriting.31 This
approach attempts to better capture risk at the time the institution assumes the risk and, therefore,
to better predict when an institution’s risk profile may change. This approach also attempts to
reduce procyclical bias. An overview of the proposed assessment system that follows has been
abbreviated substantially, but the FDIC provides a complete description in the NPR.
The assessment system would have separate assessment structures for large depository
institutions, highly complex institutions, and small depository institutions. A large depository
institution would be defined as one having $10 billion or more in total assets for at least four
consecutive quarters. A highly complex institution would be defined as a depository institution
with more than $50 billion in total assets that is fully owned by a parent company with more than
24 P.L. 104-208.
25 See Alan S. Blinder and Robert F. Wescott, Reform of Deposit Insurance: A Report to the FDIC, March 20, 2001,
available at http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/insurance/initiative/reform.html.
26 See http://www.house.gov/financialservices/media/pdf/051601ta.pdf, http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/insurance/
initiative/direcommendations.html#ReCurrent, and http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2002/el2002-
14.html.
27 P.L. 109-171, the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 (the Reform Act). See http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/
insurance/initiative/index.html for highlights regarding coverage of the law and a link to the Reform Act.
28 See http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2006/pr06070.html and http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2006/
pr06101.html.
29 See http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/insurance/reform.html#drr.
30 See http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/insurance/new.html, http://www.fdic.gov/news/board/april05.pdf, and
http://www.fdic.gov/news/board/april06.pdf.
31 See John W. Straka, “A Shift in the Mortgage Landscape: The 1990s Move to Automated Credit Evaluations,”
Journal of Housing Research, vol. 11, no. 2 (2000), pp. 207-232.
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$500 billion in total assets (or fully owned by one or more intermediate parent companies with
more than $500 billion in assets), or a processing bank and trust company with more than $10
billion in total assets.32 Small institutions, which do not fit into the other categories, are assessed
separately.
Data for the large depository institutions and the highly complex institutions, which would be
collected during examinations, would be evaluated using a scorecard that would use variables
from the following categories:33
• A weighted average CAMELS rating;34
• Variables that represent the ability to withstand a decline in asset holdings or an
increase in credit or default risk, such as risk-based capital-to-asset ratios;
• Variables that represent the ability to withstand an increase in liquidity or funding
risk, such as the ratio of core deposits to total liabilities;
• A loss severity score that measures the relative magnitude of potential losses to
the FDIC, which is computed as a ratio of possible losses to the total domestic
deposits, averaged over three quarters.
The scorecards for highly complex institutions will include a market indicator category, which
will include a capital asset ratio, specifically the tangible common equity ratio, from the parent
company of the institution. After the data have been entered, the scorecard would compute a
performance score between 0 and 100 as a weighted average of the first three categories of inputs
for the large depository institutions. For the highly complex institutions, the performance score
between 0 and 100 would still be a weighted average, but the market indicator category is
included for a total of four categories. The loss severity score would also generate a quantitative
measure between 0 and 100 for both groups. The performance and the loss severity scores would
then be converted to an initial base assessment rate. The final assessment rate would then be
computed by adjusting the initial base assessment rate for holdings of certain long-term
unsecured debt, secured liabilities, and brokered deposits. Use of the scorecard allows
assessments to vary with the levels of risk taken by institutions each quarter. Consequently, this
system may provide incentives to institutions to reduce excessive risks, in particular during
economic expansions when loan underwriting standards tend to be relatively more relaxed.
For small depository institutions, a risk-based deposit insurance assessment would still be
calculated based upon their CAMELS ratings and capitalization levels. Financial institutions
receive a composite CAMELS rating from 1 to 5, with 1 being the most favorable rating of an
institution’s overall condition and performance. Next, they are assigned capitalization
classifications, which are determined by their various leverage ratios: Well capitalized,
Adequately capitalized, Undercapitalized, Significantly undercapitalized, and Critically
undercapitalized. The institutions can now be grouped into four risk categories:
32 For a more precise definition of a highly complex institution, see http://www.fdic.gov/news/board/april05.pdf.
33A scorecard refers to scoring models and statistical automated methods used to assess the credit risk of individuals or
entities based upon various characteristics. For example, the mortgage industry uses scorecards to categorize mortgage
applicants into risk groups and set mortgage rates and terms. See John W. Straka, “A Shift in the Mortgage Landscape:
The 1990s Move to Automated Credit Evaluations,” Journal of Housing Research, vol. 11, no. 2 (2000), pp. 207-232.
34 The CAMELS rating assesses six components: Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management administration,
Earnings, Liquidity, and Sensitivity to market risk. See http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/press/general/1996/
19961224/default.htm.
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• Risk Category I (Well capitalized and with CAMELS ratings of 1 or 2);
• Risk Category II (Adequately capitalized and with CAMELS ratings of 2 or 3);
• Risk Category III (Undercapitalized with higher CAMELS ratings or currently
not undercapitalized with CAMELS ratings of 4 or 5); or
• Risk Category IV (all other undercapitalized institutions).
Under the proposed rule, the final assessment rate for each risk category would be computed
using a predetermined initial base assessment rate and adjustments for holdings of unsecured
debt, secured liabilites, and brokered deposits.
Legislative Efforts to Reduce Loss Exposure
On June 16, 2009, H.R. 2897, the Bank Accountability and Risk Assessment Act of 2009
(Representative Luis Gutierrez et al.), was introduced with the stated purpose “to amend the
Federal Deposit Insurance Act of 1950 to return a sense of fairness and accountability to the
deposit insurance premium assessment process and for other purposes.”35 H.R. 2897 is
particularly interested in the impact that failures of “too-big-to-fail” or systemically important
depository institutions would have on the DIF. Given the risk that a failure of one or more of the
large financial institutions would overwhelm the DIF, such large entities would be required to pay
higher insurance premiums to fully account for the additional risk they pose. This legislation
would alter the FDIC’s deposit insurance premium assessment process so that larger institutions
would pay additional premiums to better reflect their systemic risks. To achieve the bill
objectives, H.R. 2897 proposes a systemic risk premium that certain banks would pay in addition
to the premiums calculated based upon the amount of deposits insured. The bill provides criteria
for determining which firms are systemically important.36
A systemic risk event, however, does not have to be associated with failures of large institutions.
Numerous failures of small institutions after a significant economic or financial market downturn
can drain the DIF as quickly as a failure of a large bank. For example, small banks may securitize
many consumer loans (i.e., mortgages, automobile, and credit card loans) and specialize or retain
commercial loans in their portfolios.37 Given that small banks hold portfolios that consist of very
similar types of assets, a sudden rash of defaults by merchants or commercial borrowers during a
severe economic downturn could set off a wave of small bank failures. Not only would the DIF
be affected by the costs to reimburse depositors, but asset liquidation and disposal may be very
costly. Hence, restructuring the deposit assessment base arguably may have less to do with the
size of individual institutions and more to do with a realignment to better reflect the costs
incurred by the FDIC to resolve bank failures.
Another approach to cover more of the DIF’s total loss exposure may be to expand the assessment
base to cover both deposit and non-deposit liabilities. Currently, the deposit assessment base is set
35 P.L. 81-797.
36 For more details about the criteria, see Section 3 of the bill.
37 See http://www2.fdic.gov/qbp/2009dec/qbp.pdf . Note that 56 of the institutions that have over $1 billion in assets do
not meet the definition of a commercial lender, which is met by 4,456 of institutions. The 4,456 institutions are likely to
have less than $10 billion in assets.
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to cover the losses associated with protecting depositors and not necessarily to cover the total
costs associated with resolving a bank failure. In H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (Representative Barney Frank), the assessment base is defined
as the amount of the insured depository institution’s average total assets during the assessment
period minus the amount of the insured depository institution’s average tangible equity during the
assessment period. Similarly, S. 3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010
(Senator Christopher Dodd), which has been reported out of the Senate Banking Committee
(S.Rept. 111-176), computes the assessment base as the average total consolidated assets of the
insured depository institution during the assessment period minus the sum of (1) the average
tangible equity and (2) the average long-term unsecured debt. In both cases, average assets minus
average equity will result in assessments based on the average of all liabilities. The Senate
committee version would specifically target short-term liabilities, which is the more popular
choice for funding assets.38
A broader assessment base would increase the overall funding costs for financial institutions.
Under the current assessment structure, banks may select non-deposit short-term funding options
to reduce the amount of deposit insurance assessments they would have to pay. With an expanded
assessment base, the DIF would collect revenue regardless of the funding strategies pursued.
Banks could respond to the higher funding costs in a variety of ways. Banks could make fewer
loans and reduce their costs. Banks could charge higher rates and fees to consumers and pass
some of the additional funding costs on to consumers. Banks could also take on more risk to try
to generate higher returns, which would cover the additional costs. At this point, it is difficult to
anticipate the strategies financial institutions would adopt to recoup the additional funding costs.
Another approach to reflect unanticipated loss risks would be to eliminate the procyclical bias in
the pricing of deposit insurance, which simultaneously would increase the effectiveness of risk-
based pricing when the DIF exceeds the DRR cap. If the FDIC is unable by statute to collect
deposit insurance when the DIF reaches its statutory limit, then risk-based pricing would no
longer provide a disincentive to discourage imprudent lending behavior. Section 1403 of H.R.
4173 would eliminate procyclical deposit insurance assessments by giving the FDIC sole
discretion to suspend or limit the declaration of the payment of dividends to financial institutions.
This legislation would allow the FDIC to continue collecting assessments regardless of the DRR.
At the time this report was completed, S. 3217 contained no similar provision.
38 If long term customer loans were funded at longer term rates, that would reduce profitability. Hence, the subtraction
of the average long-term unsecured debt may not have a large impact on the premiums that banks would pay to the
FDIC. The costs of the premiums are likely to be less than the costs to fund assets with long-term liabilities.
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Appendix A. Recent FDIC Actions to Replenish the
Deposit Insurance Fund
The FDIC’s risk-based deposit insurance pricing system had been in place for less than two years
when the pace of bank failures increased in the latter part of 2008 and into 2009.39 A chronology
of actions taken by the FDIC to replenish the DIF is presented in this appendix.40
Increase in Deposit Insurance Assessments
On October 7, 2008, the FDIC announced a plan to restore the DIF by the end of 2013.41 Under
the plan, deposit insurance assessments increased by 7 basis points (or 0.07 percentage points)
beginning January 1, 2009. The FDIC announced modifications to its original restoration plan on
February 27, 2009.42 The time horizon deemed necessary to accumulate the DRR level for the
DIF was extended to seven years from the initial five.43
The FDIC also announced a special assessment fee that was imposed on all banks to help
replenish the DIF. The FDIC’s response in the event of a banking crisis was consistent with
academics’ earlier warnings of a procyclical bias injected into the deposit assessment pricing
system. The FDIC initially proposed an emergency special assessment of 20 basis points (0.2%)
that would be imposed on member banks on June 30, 2009, and collected on September 30, 2009.
In the final ruling, however, the FDIC lowered the emergency special assessment to 5 basis points
(0.05%).44
Increase in FDIC Borrowing Authority
On February 3, 2009, the FDIC asked Congress to increase its line of credit from the U.S.
Treasury to $100 billion from $30 billion.45 The increased borrowing authority would be used in
case funds from the DIF were not immediately available to meet the demands of rising bank
closures.46 P.L. 111-22 increases the FDIC’s borrowing authority from $30 billion to $300 billion
until December 31, 2010; afterwards, the FDIC will have $100 billion of borrowing authority
from the U.S. Treasury.47
39 See CRS Report RL34182, Financial Crisis? The Liquidity Crunch of August 2007, by Darryl E. Getter et al.
40 For specific details, see http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/insurance/new.html.
41 See http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2008/pr08094.html.
42 See http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2009/pr09030.html.
43 H.R. 786, Section 2 proposed to extend the restoration period to eight years.
44 See http://www.fdic.gov/news/board/May22no2.pdf, which is a link to the memorandum to the FDIC Board of
Directors, and also http://www.fdic.gov/news/board/May22no1.pdf for the official announcement the final rule.
45 See http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/speeches/archives/2009/spfeb0309.html.
46 For more detailed information concerning FDIC authority, see CRS Report RL34657, Financial Institution
Insolvency: Federal Authority over Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Depository Institutions, by David H. Carpenter and
M. Maureen Murphy.
47 P.L. 111-22, Section 204.
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Prepaid Insurance Assessments
On November 12, 2009, the FDIC approved a final rule that requires its member institutions to
prepay deposit insurance assessments covering all of 2010, 2011, and 2012, to be collected on
December 30, 2009, along with the regular assessments due for the fourth quarter of 2009.48 The
assessment rate would be calculated using the institution’s rate as of September 30, 2009, and the
rate applied to 2011 and 2012 would be 3 basis points (0.03%) higher. The assessment base or
amount of deposits would be calculated using the institution’s third quarter assessment base, and
the base would be estimated to grow at 5% annually through the end of 2012. The FDIC would
consider, on a case-by-case basis, requests to be exempted from the prepayment requirement. The
FDIC estimates that it would collect $45 billion in prepaid assessments for the DIF. While the
prepayment will improve liquidity for the FDIC, it may not have much impact on the DIF.49
The FDIC has other options for reducing its liquidity needs. The FDIC could impose additional
special assessments. The FDIC could also exercise its authority to borrow from the U.S. Treasury
or the Federal Financing Bank, though these options would still result in higher assessments on
member institutions. According to the FDIC, member institutions would repay such borrowings
through assessments. Consequently, member institutions will pay either today or in the future to
restore the DIF. The prepayment option arguably would be less expensive on the industry than
borrowing from the Treasury today and repaying later with additional interest charges.
Restoration of the DIF will be a burden for member institutions. According to the FDIC’s
Quarterly Banking Profile for the second quarter of 2009, bank assets (loans) have declined along
with the interest earned from the loans, losses due to loan defaults have increased, and funding
bank loans with deposits has increased.50 This means that banks are currently earning less from
lending, yet they must still pay interest on deposits. Higher deposit assessments further reduce
bank liquidity during the current period of financial uncertainty, which means that holding
deposits has become relatively more expensive for the banking industry, in particular for small
banks. If, however, deposits were to decline, insurance costs would still rise under the
prepayment option. Prior to the recent increase in bank deposits, bank deposit shares declined
over the 1997 through 2007 period.51 If consumer spending rises or other financial assets such as
stock become more attractive alternatives for holding wealth as the economy recovers, bank
deposits may again decline. Use of a constant assessment base throughout the first year that
increases at 5% annually over the remaining years, when deposits are declining, translates into an
increase in the cost of deposit insurance. Should bank deposits increase faster than the estimated
5% annual growth rate over 2011 and 2012, then the costs of deposit insurance would be lower
for banks.
48 See http://www.fdic.gov/news/board/2009nov12no4.pdf.
49 See http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2009/pr09203.html.
50 See http://www2.fdic.gov/qbp/2009jun/qbp.pdf. The report also says that banks profits and capital levels improved
given that noninterest income, which includes bank fees, increased.
51 See Robert B. Avery, Marsha J. Courchane, and Peter Zorn, “The CRA Within A Changing Financial Landscape,”
paper given at Revisiting the CRA: Perspectives on the Future of the Community Reinvestment Act, February 24,
2009, http://www.frbsf.org/publications/community/cra/index.html; and James Harvey and Kenneth Spong, The
Decline in Core Deposits: What Can Banks Do?, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Financial Industry
Perspectives, Kansas City, MO, 2001, http://www.kansascityfed.org/PUBLICAT/FIP/prs01-4.pdf.
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Appendix B. Temporary Liquidity Guarantee
Program
On October 14, 2008, the FDIC announced the creation of the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee
Program (TLGP) to encourage liquidity in the banking system.52 One component of the program
guarantees senior unsecured debt issued by October 31, 2009. (The original June 30, 2009,
deadline was extended on March 17, 2009.) Such debt structures include commercial paper,
interbank funding debt, promissory notes, and any unsecured portion of secured debt. The
guarantee would remain in effect until June 30, 2012, even if the maturity of these obligations
extends beyond that date. Also, a surcharge would be imposed on any debt issued on or after
April 1, 2009, with a maturity date of one year or more.53 The Transaction Account Guarantee
(TAG) component insures all non-interest-bearing deposit accounts, primarily payroll processing
accounts used by businesses, which often exceed the $250,000 deposit insurance limit.54
Financial institutions eligible for participation in the TLGP program include entities insured by
the FDIC, bank holding and financial holding companies headquartered in the United States, and
savings and loan companies under Section 4(k) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956.
Although the TLGP is a voluntary program, eligible financial institutions were automatically
registered to participate unless they had requested not to be by November 12, 2008. Eligible
entities could also opt out of one or both of the program components.
After the first 30 days, institutions that remain in the program pay insurance fees.55 To insure
senior unsecured debt, the FDIC is assessing an annualized fee corresponding to 75 basis points.
A 10-basis-point surcharge will be applied for non-interest-bearing deposit accounts above the
$250,000 deposit insurance limit. According to testimony by the FDIC’s deputy to the chairman,
of 8,300 FDIC-insured institutions, almost 7,000 have opted in to the transaction account
guarantee program, and nearly 7,100 banks and thrifts and their holding companies have opted in
to the debt guarantee program.56
On April 13, 2010, the FDIC adopted a final rule extending the TAG portion of the TLGP for six
months through December 31, 2010, with the possibility of extending the program an additional
12 months without further rulemaking.57
52 See the initial announcement at http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2008/pr08100.html. See http://www.fdic.gov/
news/news/press/2008/pr08105.html, which provides further details of the program.
53 See http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2009/pr09041.html.
54 Monthly reports on debt issuance under the TLGP program may be found at http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/
resources/tlgp/reports.html.
55 The list of institutions requesting not to participate in the TLGP program is available at http://www.fdic.gov/
regulations/resources/TLGP/optout.html.
56 John F. Bovenzi, Statement of John F. Bovenzi, Deputy to the Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation on Promoting Bank Liquidity and Lending Through Deposit Insurance, Hope for
Homeowners, and Other Enhancements before the Committee on Financial Services; U.S. House of Representatives,
February 3, 2009, http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/speeches/archives/2009/spfeb0309.html.
57 See http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2010/fil10015.html.
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Author Contact Information
Darryl E. Getter
Specialist in Financial Economics
dgetter@crs.loc.gov, 7-2834
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