FDIC fees

FDIC is now broke, wants banks to prepay fees up to 2012 to replenish funds

Remember all of the claims the FDIC would never run out of money? Well, they're broke.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is asking lenders to prepay three years of premiums, raising $45 billion, to replenish reserves drained by the fastest pace of bank failures in 17 years.

The insurance fund will have a negative balance as of tomorrow after 120 banks were shut in the past two years, and will be positive by 2012, the staff said. Banks failures may cost $100 billion through 2013 with half the cost already incurred, the FDIC said. The agency today rejected options for a second special fee or borrowing from the Treasury Department.