The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) proposed a rule that would implement a special assessment to recover costs associated with protecting uninsured depositors following the closures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
This would be done in connection with the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDI Act), which requires the FDIC to recover any losses to the Depositors Insurance Fund (DIF) as a result of protecting uninsured depositors through a special assessment. The law also gives the FDIC the authority to consider “the types of entities that benefit from any action taken or assistance provided.”
The FDIC estimates that of the total cost of the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, roughly $15.8 billion was attributable to the protection of uninsured depositors.
“The proposal applies the special assessment to the types of banking organizations that benefitted most from the protection of uninsured depositors, while ensuring equitable, transparent, and consistent treatment based on amounts of uninsured deposits,” FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said. “The proposal also promotes maintenance of liquidity, which will allow institutions to continue to meet the credit needs of the U.S. economy.”
As proposed, approximately 113 banking organizations would be subject to the special assessment. Banks with more than $50 billion in total assets would pay about 95 percent of the special assessment. No banks with total assets under $5 billion would be subject to the special assessment.
The FDIC is proposing to collect the special assessment at an annual rate of approximately 12.5 basis points over eight quarterly assessment periods. Assuming that the effects on capital and income of the entire amount of the special assessment would occur in one quarter only, it is estimated to result in an average one-quarter reduction in income of 17.5 percent.
Under the proposal, the base for the special assessment would be equal to an insured depository institution’s (IDI’s) estimated uninsured deposits reported as of Dec. 31, 2022, adjusted to exclude the first $5 billion.
The special assessment would be collected starting with the first quarterly assessment period of 2024, continuing for a total of eight quarters.
The proposed rule is open for public comment for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register.