Kay Bailey Hutchison: “Thank you, Madam President. I rise to join my colleague, Senator Tester, and an increasing number of cosponsors, in…”

“Thank you, Madam President. I rise to join my colleague, Senator Tester, and an increasing number of cosponsors, in support of our amendment which will ensure that banks of all sizes pay their fair share in deposit insurance for the risk they pose to the banking system. Our amendment is intended to level the playing field for our safe community banks that for far too long have paid assessments into the FDIC insurance fund above and beyond the risk they pose. The FDIC levies deposit insurance premiums on a bank's total domestic deposits, but domestic deposits are not the best means to analyze the safety of banks. Financial assets other than deposits create risk in the system. Nondeposit assets are held disproportionately by larger noncommunity banks and can be more complex and more risky. Community banks with less than $10 billion in assets rely heavily on customer deposits for funding. This penalizes safe institutions by forcing them to pay deposit insurance premiums above and beyond the risk they pose to the banking system. Despite making up just 20 percent of the Nation's assets, these community banks contribute 30 percent of the premiums to the deposit insurance fund. At the same time, large banks hold 80 percent of the banking industry's assets. Yet they just pay 70 percent of the premiums. We must fix this inequality. That is what the Tester-Hutchison measure does.”