Biggest Failure In CU History Comes To A Close

The final chapter in the worst scandal in credit union history was finished last week when the state closed down the Depositors Economic Protection Corp., created a decade ago to resolve the crisis over the Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corp.-known as RISDIC.

DEPCO was created after the January 1991 failure of RISDIC, which precipitated the closure of 45 financial institutions insured by RISDIC, including 29 credit unions. DEPCO was eventually charged with resolving the failures, selling off assets from the institutions and settling litigation to help pay off more than 211,000 members and depositors of the failed RISDIC institutions. DEPCO sold more than $1.2 billion in bonds to finance the biggest financial bail-out in credit union history.

CU Journal Washington Bureau Chief Ed Roberts can be reached at 202-434-0334, or at eroberts cujournal.com.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER