Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Headquarters: 550
17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20429
Phone: 202-736-0000
Employees: 4,500
Chairman: Sheila Bair
Website: http://www.fdic.gov
Career Page
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 up to $100,000; 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 FDIC receives no Congressional appropriations
it is funded by premiums that banks and thrift institutions
pay for deposit insurance coverage and from earnings on investments
in U.S. Treasury securities. With insurance funds totaling more
than $44 billion, the FDIC insures more than $3 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 up to $100,000 per depositor
in each bank or thrift the FDIC insures. 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. (The FDIC's Electronic
Deposit Insurance Estimator can help you determine if you have
adequate deposit insurance for your 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.)
The FDIC directly examines and supervises
about 5,300 banks and savings banks, more than half of the institutions
in the banking system. Banks can be chartered by the states 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 banks that are chartered
by the states that do not join the Federal Reserve System. In
addition, the FDIC is the back-up supervisor for the remaining
insured banks and thrift institutions.
The FDIC employs about 5,200 people. It
is headquartered in Washington, D.C., 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.
