The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) preserves and promotes public confidence in the U.S. financial system by insuring deposits in banks and thrift ins utions for at least $250,000; by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to the deposit insurance funds; and by limiting the effect on the economy and the financial system when a bank or thrift ins ution fails.
The FDIC insures deposits only.
The FDIC directly examines and supervises about 5,160 banks and savings banks for operational safety and soundness, more than half of the ins utions in the banking system.
The FDIC also examines banks for compliance with consumer protection laws, including the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth-In-Lending Act, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, to name a few. Finally, the FDIC examines banks for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) which requires banks to help meet the credit needs of the communities they were chartered to serve.
To protect insured depositors, the FDIC responds immediately when a bank or thrift ins ution fails. Ins utions generally are closed by their chartering authority – the state regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or the Office of Thrift Supervision. The FDIC has several options for resolving ins ution failures, but the one most used is to sell deposits and loans of the failed ins ution to another ins ution. Customers of the failed ins ution automatically become customers of the assuming ins ution. Most of the time, the transition is seamless from the customer's point of view.
The FDIC employs about 5,000 people. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but conducts much of its business in six regional offices and in field offices around the country.
The FDIC is managed by a five-person Board of Directors, all of whom are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, with no more than three being from the same political party.
http://www.fdic.gov/about/learn/symbol/index.html