The Financing Corporation (FICO), established by the Competitive Equality Banking Act of 1987, is a mixed-ownership government corporation whose sole purpose was to function as a financing vehicle for the Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC). Effective December 12, 1991, as provided by the Resolution Trust Corporation Refinancing, Restructuring and Improvement Act of 1991, the FICO's ability to issue new debt was terminated. Outstanding FICO bonds, which are 30-year noncallable bonds with a principal amount of approximately $8.1 billion, mature in 2017 through 2019.
The FICO has assessment authority, separate from the FDIC's authority to assess risk-based premiums for deposit insurance, to collect funds from FDIC-insured institutions sufficient to pay interest on FICO bonds. The FDIC acts as collection agent for the FICO. The Deposit Insurance Funds Act 1996 (DIFA) authorized the FICO to assess both BIF- and SAIF-insured deposits, and require the BIF rate to equal one-fifth the SAIF rate through year-end 1999, or until the insurance funds are merged, whichever occurs first. Since the first quarter of 2000, all FDIC-insured deposits have been assessed at the same rate by FICO. Effective March 31, 2006, the BIF and SAIF were merged into the newly created Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF).
The FICO assessment rate is adjusted quarterly to reflect changes in the assessment bases of the fund based on quarterly Call Report and Thrift Financial Report submissions. The FICO rates for each quarterly collection since enactment of DIFA are presented below.
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