FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION: A program established by Congress in 1933, during the worst of the Great Depression, to insure the deposits of failed banks. Abbreviated FDIC, it operates operates much like any private insurance company. It collects insurance premiums from its customers--the banks--in return for the assurance that it will stand behind, or be ready to pay off, any deposits that the banks can't. See also | Great Depression | insurance | bank | bank panic | deposit insurance | fractional-reserve banking | Federal Reserve System | Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation |
