FDIC to add bank emergency fee
March 9, 2009
The Motley Fool:Bank failures that are depleting the deposit insurance fund have prompted regulators to increase the fees paid by U.S. financial institutions. Last month, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. levied a hefty emergency premium in a bid to collect $27 billion this year. The FDIC expects bank failures to cost the insurance fund around $65 billion through 2013, up from an earlier estimate of $40 billion. The 16 bank failures that have already occurred this year come on top of the 25 failures recorded last year. The FDIC board said the economic crisis, which has caused the insurance fund to drop to its lowest level in nearly a quarter-century, also warranted extending the plan to rebuild the insurance fund from five years to seven. The new emergency premium, to be levied on the 8,305 federally insured institutions on June 30, will be 20 cents for every $100 of insured deposits. That compares with an average premium of 6.3 cents paid by banks and thrifts last year.