The Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today issued a final rule on processing deposit accounts in the event of failure. The final rule, which is a follow-up to the FDIC's issuance of an interim rule in July 2008, establishes the FDIC's practices for determining, for deposit insurance and receivership purposes, deposit and other account balances at a failed depository institution. To a large extent, this rulemaking codifies the FDIC's long-standing policies and procedures at bank closings. The final rule applies to all FDIC-insured institutions.

The final rule requires, effective July 1, 2009, that insured depository institutions inform their sweep account customers of the nature of their swept funds and how those funds would be treated if the institution should fail. Excluded from the requirement are sweep arrangements where funds are moved between deposit accounts and the deposit insurance available to the customer is unchanged. The preamble to the rule provides examples of commonly used sweep transactions indicating in each case how the swept funds would be treated in the event of failure.

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Congress created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1933 to restore public confidence in the nation's banking system. The FDIC insures deposits at the nation's 8,384 banks and savings associations and it promotes the safety and soundness of these institutions by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to which they are exposed. The FDIC receives no federal tax dollars – insured financial institutions fund its operations.

FDIC press releases and other information are available on the Internet at www.fdic.gov, by subscription electronically (go to www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html) and may also be obtained through the FDIC's Public Information Center (877-275-3342 or 703-562-2200). PR-8-2009