Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Before 1933, and particularly during the period 1929-33, bank failures were not uncommon. _1_ a bank overextended itself in creating credit or if several of its important loans could not be _2_, depositors in the bank would frequently become panicky and begin to make large withdrawals. __3__ the bank had only a small number of its deposits backed by currency, the band would soon be unable to meet withdrawals, and most depositors __4__ their money. Most frequently a bank merely needed time to improve its cash position by __5__ some of its loans and not making additional ones. In 1933, the number of bank failures __6__ a peak, forcing the federal government to intervene and __7__ the banks temporarily. To help restore the publics confidence __8__ banks and strengthen the banking community, Congress passed legislation setting up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. __9__ corporation, an agency of the federal government, now insures over 90 percent of all mutual savings and commercial bank deposits for __10__ $100,000 per deposit. The FDIC has __11__ its insurance fund by charging member institutions one-twelfth of 1 percent of their total deposits. As a result of the protection provided by the FDIC and through other kinds of supervision, bank failures have been __12__ to a few isolated instances. When deposits are federally insured, people __13__ rush to withdraw their money if they __14__ the financial condition of their bank. The delay gives the banks the necessary time to adjust their cash credit balance, and this action helps to reduce the __15__ of bankruptcy. For an example of the value of the FDIC, note that the failure in 1974 of the huge Franklin National Bank did not touch off a panic, and that depositors lost no money as Franklin was taken over by another bank. |