The FDIC board of directors approved the agency’s 2024 operating budget while citing the disproportionate cost of overseeing the largest and riskiest banks.

Breakdown: The board approved an operating budget of $2.96 billion, a 6.3% decrease from the previous year.

  • The receivership funding component of the budget declined from 2023 by $475 million, or 57.5%.

  • The ongoing operations budget increased by $275 million, or 12%.

Staffing: The budget also authorizes 189 new positions, most to perform the FDIC’s core mission responsibilities. The agency said many of the new positions are being added to increase the monitoring and supervision of large banks.

Focus on Big Banks: During the agency’s board meeting, board members noted the increased funding dedicated to heightened supervisory monitoring of large insured institutions.

  • FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said the new resources reflect the lessons learned from this year’s failures of three large regional banks.

  • Noting that the largest banks have a disproportionate cost to the agency while posing greater risk to the Deposit Insurance Fund, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said regulators should consider whether the smallest banks are subsidizing deposit insurance of the largest institutions.