The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent agency of the United States government. The FDIC protects you against the loss of your deposits if an FDIC-insured bank or savings association fails. FDIC insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.
National banks, state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System , and other qualified state banks are covered by the FDIC. However, mutual funds and other securities are not covered. The corporation is financed by assessments on insured banks and interest on government securities. Since 1989 the FDIC has supervised the Savings Association Insurance Fund, the agency that was created to provide coverage for savings and loan associations when the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation became insolvent. Failures of financial institutions in the late 1980s and early 1990s led to the FDIC's own insolvency, but it has since recovered.
