Worried About Another Bank Run? Here’s What US Officials Are Doing About It

Refresher: FDIC insurance protects up to $250K in each eligible bank account.

It applies to individuals with $5 in their bank account and even businesses with hundreds of millions.

• In the US, there are over $19T in bank deposits — with over $9.2T uninsured at the end of 2022.
• Uninsured deposits made up 93.8% of Silicon Valley Bank’s and almost 90% of Signature Bank’s deposits.

As a result, depositors rushed to transfer their money from smaller banks to larger “too big to fail” banks.

But regional banks are crucial to the economy — providing 45% of all US consumer lending. The US can’t let them fail.

So what are they doing about it?

US officials already took action by insuring deposits at both Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US government would take action again to protect depositors if needed.

US officials are also looking at ways to raise the limit on all deposits temporarily.

• They don’t see it as a necessary move yet — but it’s being explored as a strategy in case things get worse.
• House conservatives pushed back against increasing the limit — warning this “encourages future irresponsible behavior to be paid for by those not involved who followed the rules.”