Friday, May 22, 2009

Federal regulators are adopting a new system of special fees paid by U.S. financial institutions that will shift more of the burden to bigger banks to help replenish the deposit insurance fund.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is meeting to approve the new fee system. It is intended to raise $5.6 billion in the face of a cascade of bank failures that have depleted the insurance fund.

The FDIC now expects bank failures will cost the fund around $70 billion through 2013, up from a previous assessment of around $65 billion.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair says: "There will be some shifting of the burden (to major banks). The shift is not huge to them. We're asking them to pay more."