House Ups Deposit InsuranceCoverage

WASHINGTON - (05/05/05) -- The House voted overwhelminglyWednesday to pass a deposit insurance reform bill that wouldincrease coverage on federally insured credit union and bankaccounts to $130,000, from the current $100,000, and to indexfuture coverage limits to the rate of inflation. The bill wouldalso double the coverage to $260,000 for retirement accounts. Asimilar bill passed the House in 2003 but was never voted by theSenate, which has expressed little interest in passing it this yeareither. The bill would also merge the bank and thrift insurancefunds and set up a maximum equity level, over which funds would berebated to insured institutions, just as NCUA rebates excess fundsto credit unions.