The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) board approved new rules designed to simplify the process for making insurance determinations when a bank is placed into receivership.
“Timely access to insured deposits is critical to maintaining public confidence in the banking system and the FDIC’s ability to resolve these institutions,” FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams said. “Under the final rule, the FDIC can provide depositors at large failed banks the same rapid access to their insured funds as it does in smaller resolutions.”
The amendments establish recordkeeping requirements to facilitate rapid payment of insured deposits to customers if a bank were to fail. They apply to the 32 FDIC-insured institutions that have more than two million deposit accounts.
The FDIC board also amended its rules and regulations to expand the types of evidence it would consider when determining whether joint accounts qualify for increased deposit insurance coverage. This impacts all banks, regardless of size. The FDIC will continue to look to signature cards when determining deposit insurance coverage on joint accounts, however, it may now also rely on other information contained in a bank’s deposit account records that establishes co-ownership of a joint account. This change does not expand or contract deposit insurance coverage for joint accounts, nor does it place any added burden on depositors or FDIC-insured institutions.