Is the FDIC Still Around Today? Funding, Coverage, and Verification

Yes, the FDIC is still around. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation remains a fully operational independent federal agency, insuring deposits at more than 4,300 banks nationwide up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category.¹² Its Deposit Insurance Fund held $153.9 billion at the end of 2025, and the agency continues to examine banks, insure deposits, and step in when institutions fail.³

The FDIC’s Current Status

Congress created the FDIC in 1933 after thousands of bank failures wiped out depositors’ savings in the 1920s and early 1930s. The agency still performs the same three core functions today: insuring deposits at member banks, examining financial institutions for safety and consumer protection compliance, and resolving banks that fail. It also acts as the primary federal regulator for state-chartered banks that do not belong to the Federal Reserve System.⁴

As of the fourth quarter of 2025, the FDIC insured 4,336 depository institutions.¹ The Deposit Insurance Fund — the reserve used to pay depositors when a bank fails — carried a reserve ratio of 1.42 percent at year-end 2025.³

Why People Ask If the FDIC Is Still Around

Two recent developments have raised the question.

In 2023, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank failed in rapid succession. They were three of the largest bank failures in FDIC history. The FDIC resolved each through purchase-and-assumption agreements, and for the first two it used a systemic risk exception to protect all depositors, including those with balances above the insured limit.⁵

Then, in April 2025, the agency reduced its workforce by roughly 20 percent — about 1,250 positions — and rescinded more than 200 job offers to bank examiners as part of a broader government efficiency initiative.⁶ The staffing reduction did not change the FDIC’s deposit insurance obligations or its statutory authority. The agency still insures every qualifying deposit at every member bank up to the legal limit.

How the Agency Is Funded

The FDIC receives no congressional appropriations. Its operating expenses and insurance reserves come from assessments that insured banks and savings associations pay into the Deposit Insurance Fund.⁴ No taxpayer money supports the agency’s day-to-day operations or its ability to pay out insured deposits after a bank failure. That funding structure is one reason changes in federal staffing budgets do not affect the coverage sitting behind your accounts.

What Coverage Looks Like Today

Federal law sets the standard maximum deposit insurance amount at $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category.² The limit applies independently at each bank. If you hold $250,000 at Bank A and $250,000 at Bank B, both balances are fully insured because accounts at different banks are not combined.

Within a single bank, the FDIC adds together all deposits you hold in the same ownership category. Anything above $250,000 in one category is generally uninsured.² Coverage includes any interest that has accrued through the date a bank fails, even if it hasn’t yet posted to your account.⁷

The $250,000 figure has not changed since it was permanently set in 2008. Federal law includes an inflation-adjustment mechanism, but the formula is tied to an earlier $100,000 baseline, and inflation since 2005 has not pushed the adjusted number anywhere near $250,000. No increase has been triggered.⁸

Ownership Categories Multiply Your Coverage

Federal regulations define several ownership categories, and the $250,000 limit applies separately to each one.⁹ By spreading deposits across categories at the same bank, one household can qualify for well over $250,000 in total protection.

Single-ownership accounts held in your name alone are combined and insured up to $250,000 total.
Joint accounts are insured up to $250,000 per co-owner, so a two-person joint account is covered up to $500,000.
Certain retirement accounts, including traditional and Roth IRAs and self-directed defined contribution plans, form their own category insured up to $250,000 separately from your other deposits at the same bank.²
Trust accounts are their own category, with coverage that scales by the number of eligible beneficiaries up to a $1,250,000 cap per trust owner.¹⁰
Business deposits held by a corporation, partnership, or unincorporated association are insured up to $250,000 separately from the personal accounts of the owners or officers.¹¹

What Isn’t Covered

FDIC insurance applies only to deposit products held at an insured bank. Covered products are checking accounts, savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, and negotiable order of withdrawal accounts.¹²

Several products commonly sold through banks are not insured, even when you buy them from an FDIC-insured institution:

Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds
Annuities and life insurance policies
Cryptocurrency
U.S. Treasury securities (backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, but not by FDIC insurance)
Safe deposit box contents

The value of these products can rise or fall with the market, and the FDIC offers no protection against those losses.¹³ A safe deposit box is storage space, not a deposit account, so cash, jewelry, or documents inside one are not covered even in the rare event of a bank failure.¹⁴

One other boundary matters. FDIC insurance does not apply to credit unions. Federally insured credit unions are covered by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, administered by the National Credit Union Administration, with the same $250,000 per-member limit backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.¹⁵

If Your Bank Fails

Federal law requires the FDIC to pay insured deposits as soon as possible after a bank failure, and the agency aims to provide access to insured funds within two business days.¹⁶ In many cases the FDIC arranges for another bank to take over the failed institution’s deposits, so customers can access their money the next business day.

If your balance exceeds the insured limit, the FDIC pays the covered portion and issues a Receiver’s Certificate for the uninsured remainder. That certificate represents a claim against the failed bank’s assets, and you may recover some or all of the uninsured amount as the FDIC liquidates them. Full repayment is not guaranteed.¹⁶

How to Verify a Bank Is Still Insured

Federal regulations require every insured bank to display the official FDIC sign, black lettering on a gold background, at each teller window or station where deposits are accepted. Banks must also display the official digital sign on their website homepages, login pages, and any pages where you can make deposits online.¹⁷

You can confirm a bank’s insurance status online through BankFind, a searchable database maintained by the FDIC. It shows each insured bank’s name, location, certificate number, and current status, going back to 1934.¹⁸

To estimate how much of your money is actually insured at a specific bank, the FDIC offers a free online tool called the Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator (EDIE). Enter your accounts and ownership details, and EDIE calculates which portions are insured and which portions, if any, exceed the coverage limits.¹⁹

1
Federal Reserve Economic Data. Assets and Liabilities of FDIC-Insured Institutions
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1821 – Insurance Funds
3
FDIC.gov. FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile Fourth Quarter 2025
4
FDIC.gov. What We Do
5
FDIC Office of Inspector General. FDIC Readiness to Resolve Large Regional Banks
6
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking. Letter to FDIC OIG Re Workforce Cut Review
7
FDIC.gov. Deposit Insurance FAQs
8
FDIC.gov. Options for Deposit Insurance Reform – Section 3
9
eCFR. 12 CFR Part 330 – Deposit Insurance Coverage
10
FDIC.gov. Trust Accounts
11
FDIC.gov. Corporation, Partnership and Unincorporated Association Accounts
12
FDIC.gov. Financial Institution Employee’s Guide to Deposit Insurance – Deposit Insurance Basics
13
FDIC.gov. Financial Products That Are Not Insured by the FDIC
14
FDIC.gov. Five Things to Know About Safe Deposit Boxes, Home Safes and Your Valuables
15
MyCreditUnion.gov. Share Insurance
16
FDIC.gov. Payment to Depositors
17
eCFR. 12 CFR Part 328 – FDIC Official Signs, Advertisement of Membership, False Advertising, Misrepresentation of Insured Status, and Misuse of the FDIC Name or Logo
18
FDIC.gov. BankFind Suite – Find Insured Banks
19
FDIC.gov. Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator (EDIE)