05/18/2010

Financial Services Alert: Public Comment Period for Proposed Templates for Safe, Low-Cost Transactional and Basic Savings Accounts

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is currently accepting public comments on proposed templates describing features for safe, low-cost transactional and basic savings account products for low- and moderate-income (LMI) consumers. At its April 1, 2010 meeting, the FDIC's Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion (Committee) discussed potential benefits of safe, low-cost transactional and basic savings account products for LMI consumers. It was noted that such products have been successfully offered by insured financial institutions.

Recent survey results indicate opportunities for banks to provide such services to LMI consumers. According to a recent FDIC survey of unbanked and underbanked households, approximately 25.6% of U.S. households (representing approximately 60 million U.S. adults) are either unbanked or underbanked. Included in this demographic is the 7.7% of U.S. households (approximately 17 million U.S. adults) classified as unbanked – currently having no checking or savings account.

The Committee recommended that the FDIC solicit public comments on the criteria for transaction and basic savings account templates to encourage financial institutions to make such products more readily available to LMI consumers. One template proposal is for an insured transactional account which is structured as a low-fee, basic checking account or an insured account-based debit card. The other template is for an insured basic savings account designed to encourage systematic or automatic deposit making. The templates are designed with the following principles in mind for the financial products: (1) low and transparent fees, (2) ease of use, (3) terms and conditions which are easily understandable, (4) products which are FDIC-insured and subject to consumer protection laws, regulations, and guidelines, and (5) represent sustainable product offerings for financial institutions. The templates can be reviewed on the FDIC's website at http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/template/. Comments may be submitted to SafeAccountTemplateComments@fdic.gov. The FDIC will be taking comments up to and including June 6, 2010.

For additional information please see: http://www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/