The FDIC is committed to ensuring that consumers have access to basic banking and other financial services as well as to developing more and better data about unbanked and underbanked households and factors that hinder them from fully utilizing the mainstream financial system. As part of this commitment, during 2008, the FDIC conducted a nationwide survey of FDIC-insured depository institutions (“banks”) to assess their efforts to serve unbanked and underbanked individuals and families.

The bank survey, the first of its kind at the national level, was mandated by Section 7 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Conforming Amendments Act of 2005 (“Reform Act”). The Reform Act requires that the FDIC conduct biennial surveys of banks’ efforts to bring individuals and families who have rarely, if ever, held a checking account, a savings account or other type of transaction or check-cashing account at an insured depository institution into the conventional finance system.

This initial survey effort under the Reform Act had the following three objectives:

• Identify and quantify the extent to which banks outreach, serve, and meet the banking needs of unbanked and underbanked individuals and households;
• Identify challenges affecting the ability of banks to serve unbanked and underbanked individuals and households; and
• Identify innovative efforts banks use to serve unbanked and underbanked individuals and households.

The bank survey was voluntary and consisted of mail-in survey questionnaires administered to a nationally representative random stratified sample of about 1,300 financial institutions with a response rate of 54 percent (685 complete surveys). The bank survey effort also included 16 case studies developed from in-depth interviews with banks that appeared to be successfully developing business opportunities with unbanked and/or underbanked individuals.

In addition, later this year the FDIC expects to release the results of the first FDIC Household Survey of the Unbanked and Underbanked, which was conducted on behalf of the FDIC by the U.S. Bureau of the Census as a supplement to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey during January 2009. In addition to collecting accurate estimates of the number of unbanked and underbanked households in the U.S., the survey was designed to provide insights into their demographic characteristics and reasons why the households are unbanked and/or underbanked.

The complete bank survey results are contained in a full report prepared by Dove Consulting, which the FDIC retained to help administer the survey. The report was transmitted to Congress by the Chairman of the FDIC along with an Executive Summary of Survey Findings and Recommendations prepared by the FDIC, in accordance with the Reform Act.

Press Release Announcing the Release of the Study

Press Release 02/05/2009: FDIC Releases First National Survey of Banks' Efforts to Serve the Unbanked and Underbanked

Transmittal Letters to the Senate and House Committees

Transmittal Letter from FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - PDF (PDF Help)

Transmittal Letter from FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair to the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - PDF (PDF Help)

Transmittal Letter from FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair to the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee- PDF (PDF Help)

Transmittal Letter from FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair to the Ranking Minority Member of the House Financial Services Committee- PDF (PDF Help)

Executive Summary of Survey Findings and Recommendations

FDIC Survey of Banks' Efforts to Serve the Unbanked and Underbanked: Executive Summary of Survey Findings and Recommendations, February, 2009 - PDF 351k (PDF Help)

Banks' Efforts to Serve the Unbanked and Underbanked Report 2.5MB (PDF Help)

• Chapter 1: Study Summary - PDF 255k (PDF Help)

• Chapters 2-3: Bank Characteristics and Methodology - PDF (PDF Help)

• Chapter 4: Financial Education and Outreach Efforts - PDF 535k (PDF Help)

• Chapters 5-7: Obstacles and Access - PDF 885k (PDF Help)

• Chapters 8-11: Products and Services - PDF 620k (PDF Help)

• Chapter 12: Case Studies - PDF 380k (PDF Help)

• Appendix A: Survey Instrument - PDF (PDF Help)

• Appendix B: Retail Bank and Deposit Summary Statistics - PDF (PDF Help)

Invitation Letter from Vice Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg - PDF 270k (PDF Help)

Survey Instruction Letter from Dove Consulting - PDF (PDF Help)

Press Release 04/11/2008: FDIC to Conduct First Nationwide Survey of Banks' Efforts to Bring "Unbanked" Consumers Into Economic Mainstream

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Conduct of the Survey (PDF Help)

For any other questions or concerns about the survey please contact: unbanked-banksurvey@fdic.gov