US regulator proposes big banks to pay for cost of uninsured depositors in failures

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on Thursday proposed big banks to recover the cost associated with protecting uninsured depositors following the closures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank.

"The proposal applies the special assessment to the types of banking organizations that benefitted most from the protection of uninsured depositors," said FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg. "The proposal also promotes maintenance of liquidity, which will allow institutions to continue to meet the credit needs of the U.S. economy."

The FDIC said it estimates the total cost of the failures of SVB and Signature Bank, approximately $15.8 billion, was attributable to the protection of uninsured depositors.

"In general, large banks with large amounts of uninsured deposits benefitted the most from the systemic risk determination. As proposed, it is estimated that a total of 113 banking organizations would be subject to the special assessment," FDIC said in a statement.

The regulator said banking organizations with total assets over $50 billion would pay more than 95% of the special assessment, while no banking organizations with total assets under $5 billion would be subject to the special assessment.