Title 12 › CHAPTER 16 — FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION › § 1822
When the Corporation takes over a failed bank as its receiver, it does not have to get a bond and can hire agents to help. It decides and sets all fees, pay, and costs for winding up the bank, and can pay those out of the money it collects as receiver. If the Corporation pays an insured deposit to someone, that payment ends the Corporation’s liability for that deposit. If a deposit was moved to another bank, a payment by that new bank also ends the Corporation’s liability to the same extent. The Corporation does not have to recognize someone as an owner of a deposit if that person’s name or interest is not on the failed bank’s records and doing so would raise the total insured amount. The Corporation may also hold back part of a depositor’s insured payment to cover any debt that depositor owes to the failed bank until the debt is settled. After the Corporation starts paying insured deposits, it must mail a first notice within 30 days and a second notice 15 months later to the depositor’s last known address. If the depositor does not claim the money within 18 months, a transferee bank must return the deposit to the Corporation and the depositor’s rights against that transferee end. Except for deposits owned by the United States, the Corporation will turn unclaimed deposits over to the appropriate State as unclaimed property unless the State refuses. If the State refuses, the depositor must claim the money from the Corporation before the receivership ends or the depositor’s rights end. United States-owned deposits go to the Treasury’s general fund when turned over. If the State keeps a deposit and no one claims it for 10 years, the State must return it to the Corporation and the depositor’s rights end. Definitions: transferee institution = the bank where a transferred deposit was made available; appropriate State = the State where the notice was mailed (or the failed bank’s main office State if no in-State address); United States deposit = a deposit the bank’s records show is owned by the U.S. or a federal agency. The Corporation is treated as a federal agency for criminal conflict-of-interest law. People who work under direct supervision of Corporation officers count as Corporation employees for those laws, and others who act for the Corporation can be treated as public officials. Corporation staff and those treated as its employees must follow the Office of Government Ethics rules; the Board can add rules only with that Office’s agreement. The Board must also set rules for independent contractors and require checks that workers and contractors meet basic fitness and honesty standards. Job offers or contract bids must disclose certain facts from the past 5 years, and the Corporation can reject or cancel deals or hires for failures to disclose or for people barred by felony convictions, final enforcement actions, repeated nonpayment to banks, or actions that caused large losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund. The Corporation’s decisions on these matters are final.
Full Legal Text
Banks and Banking, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
12 U.S.C. § 1822
Title 12, Banks and Banking
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110