In Brief: FDIC Risk Criteria Slammed as Unrealistic

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. should do better at differentiating for risk when it charges premiums, the Association for Financial Professionals wrote in a letter to the agency that was to be released today. The association argued that the current system, which puts more than 9,000 institutions in the lowest-risk category, is inadequate and does not realistically reflect the exposures that those banks and thrifts pose to the deposit insurance funds.

The association called on the FDIC to stop considering uninsured deposits when it figures premium assessments, and instead to base premiums on an institution’s insured deposits only. The recommended change was one of several that the association, which consists of finance and treasury officers from more than 14,000 corporations, urged the FDIC to include in its reform proposals to Congress next month.

The association also advised the FDIC to charge a special premium on fast-growing institutions that add billions of dollars of insured deposits without paying more premiums.

It rejected two key demands of the banking industry: doubling coverage to $200,000 per account and granting premium rebates when the funds are above the statutory minimum.