The Unbanked

With all of today’s financial technology, has small business lending lost ‘the human touch?’ In this episode, we dive into the results of the FDIC’s 2024 Small Business Lending Survey which finds that from the smallest banks to the largest institutions, small business loans are still generally made by…people.

What does it mean to be unbanked in today’s economy? In this episode, we discuss the FDIC’s 2023 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households. Tune in to hear more what the numbers tell us about who is banked, who is not banked,  and why it matters whether someone is banked or not.

In today’s financial marketplace, consumers have never had more choice in selecting the products and services that meet their needs. This episode explores the growing demand for financial education and the work the FDIC is doing to make consumers more ‘Money Smart.’

Banking is a risk business and managing risk is foundational to good banking. In this episode, we dive into the FDIC’s 2024 Risk Review to discuss the latest risks to the U.S. banking sector.

What could possibly go wrong should a global systemically important banking organization fail? In this episode, we look how the FDIC would resolve such a ‘too big to fail’ institution under Title II of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

When an FDIC-supervised bank fails, and the resulting cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund exceeds $50 million, the agency’s Office of Inspector General is required by law to conduct a ‘material loss review.’ In this episode, we learn what these material loss reviews are and why they’re important to our understanding of the reasons for bank failures and the FDIC’s supervision of banks.

Minority banks play a critical role in serving communities that have historically lacked access to credit and capital. In this episode, we meet two bankers—one from a small minority bank and the other from a large global financial institution. Together, they discuss the power of their partnership to make certain the banking system works for everyone.

Community banks have long gained a reputation for being successful based on their deep roots in the communities they serve. But in an age of digital banking and online payment systems, what does success even look like for community banks in 2024 and beyond?

Nobody wants to think about failure but in the banking world, planning for an orderly failure of a large bank can be crucial in preventing taxpayer-funded bailouts or widespread disruptions to the financial system. In this episode, Ryan Tetrick, the FDIC’s Deputy Director of Resolution Readiness, discusses “living wills,” a popular term to describe a plan for when a large bank fails.

Following two large bank failures earlier this year, the FDIC began to examine possible options for reforming its deposit insurance framework. In this episode, we examine three options for deposit insurance reform with FDIC senior economists Jonathan Pogach and Rosalind Bennett.