1989 Articles

Deposit Insurance: Lessons from the Record

Calomiris, Charles W.

The deterioration of the federal deposit insurance funds, particularly the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, has become a common theme in the press and a major concern of financial regulators. Estimates of the amount necessary to reimburse depositors’ losses in FSLIC member institutions range above 100 billion. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is in much better condition, but some fear that the structural flaws that led to the losses in FSLIC are present in FDIC insurance as well. At the state level, deposit insurance as well. At the state level, deposit insurance funds for thrifts have been collapsing at a rapid rate.