FDIC

The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) is an independent agency created by Congress that maintains the stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system by insuring deposits, examining and supervising financial institutions, and managing receiverships. Congress created FDIC in 1933 in response to the thousands of bank failures that occurred in the 1920s and early 1930s. The corporation identifies, monitors, and addresses risks to the deposit insurance funds when a bank or thrift institution fails.

The Bank Insurance Fund and the Savings Association Insurance Fund were established as FDIC responsibilities under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, which sought to reform, recapitalize, and consolidate the federal deposit insurance system. The act also designated FDIC as the administrator of the Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation Resolution Fund, which was created to complete the affairs of the former Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation and liquidate the assets and liabilities transferred from the former Resolution Trust Corporation.

The Bank Insurance Fund and the Savings Association Insurance Fund merged into the Deposit Insurance Fund on February 8, 2006, as a result of the President signing the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 into law. With the congressional approval of the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005, FDIC was required to ensure that approximately 7,400 eligible member institutions received a one-time assessment credit totaling $4.7 billion.

FDIC insures deposits in excess of $4 trillion for its 8,571 member institutions. It had a budget of about $1.1 billion for calendar year 2007 to support its activities in managing the funds. For that year, it processed almost 16.4 million financial transactions.

FDIC relies extensively on computerized systems to support its financial operations and store the sensitive information that it collects. Its local and wide area networks interconnect these systems. To support its financial management functions, the corporation relies on many systems including the NFE, a corporate-wide effort focused on implementing an enterprisewide, integrated software system. In addition, the corporation relies on the AIMS II to calculate and collect FDIC deposit insurance premiums and Financing Corporation bond principal and interest amounts from insured financial institutions. FDIC financial systems also process and track financial transactions such as disbursements made to support operations.