Almost All Community Banks' Assessment Rates Decline as Deposit Insurance Fund Surpasses Milestone — 2016-08-30

More than nine out of 10 small banks are likely to pay less for deposit insurance beginning in the current quarter, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said on Tuesday. The reduction in assessments will occur because the reserve ratio--the amount in the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) to insured deposits--reached 1.17 percent at the end of June. That was the highest level in more than eight years, and marks a significant milestone for the DIF, which fell into negative territory following the recent financial crisis. “Assessment rates for 93 percent of institutions with less than $10 billion in assets are expected to decline,” FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said. “On average, regular quarterly assessments are expected to decline by about one-third for these smaller institutions.