FDIC board shrinks budget

Last edited 1:10 p.m., Dec. 12, 2012

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Board of Directors yesterday approved a 2013 corporate operating budget of $2.68 billion, an 18.2 percent decrease compared to this year's budget.

The budget included an authorized 2013 staffing level of 8,026 employees, down 687 from its current level of 8,713. Further reductions are projected in 2014 and beyond, according to a news release.

FDIC spokesman David Barr, of Washington, D.C., said most of the reductions will be temporary workers. He said about 20 of the 550 employees in the Kansas City region are temporary employees, but none are employed in the Springfield area. The FDIC's regional office in Kansas City covers Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

"The budget approved (yesterday) is consistent with the slow but steady recovery in the U.S. banking industry during the past three years," FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in the release.

The number of FDIC-supervised institutions decreased 18.4 percent to 4,511 by Oct. 31, compared to 5,527 at the end of 2007, due to bank failures and consolidations. The FDIC expects consolidations to continue to impact its staffing needs. With less supervised institutions, the FDIC plans to continue to reduce its supervision workload.