Book Description

This article examines the level and volatility of the assessment rates that would have been imposed if the current 1.25 DRR policy had been in effect when the FDIC first began operations in 1934. Specifically, to get an idea of how high the required premiums might have been and how dramatically they might have changed from year to year, we calculated BIF assessment rates for the 1940-1995 period using current law.3. The results indicate that if the current law had been in effect from 1940 to 1995, assessment rates would have swung widely during volatile times, with high assessments in some years and low or zero premiums in others, and that in general the policy would have imposed high premiums when bank profits were weak and low premiums when profits were strong. We also examined two premium-setting schemes that contrast with the current system. The first involves deriving the applicable assessment rates to maintain the reserve ratio at 1.25 percent on the basis of a moving average of previous years' actual BIF outlays for failures and operating costs. This approach would smooth the extremes in the high assessment rates required under the current policy, thus helping the banking industry through cyclical fluctuations. However, assessment rates would still change almost yearly, and in some years assessment rebates would be needed to maintain the reserve ratio at 1.25 percent. The second scheme uses the same moving-average method, but in addition it imposes a minimum positive assessment premium in the calculation formula. The advantages of this scheme are that assessment rebates would be eliminated by definition and the yearly assessment rate would remain relatively stable over long stretches of time. But the possibility of very high premiums in some years would remain.