Who: Uninsured depositors (above the $250,000 limit) at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, many of them tech startups and funds. What: A “systemic risk exception” let the FDIC cover all deposits, not just insured ones, when both banks failed in March 2023.
$18.5B
committed or authorized
$18.5B
paid out
$15.8B
recovered (repayments, dividends, fees)
$2.70B
net cost (FDIC estimate (May 2023), borne by the bank-funded insurance fund)
Outcome
The cost fell on the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund, which banks pay for, not on the Treasury. In May 2023 the FDIC put the cost at $18.5B, of which $15.8B came from covering uninsured deposits; the law requires that part to be recovered through a special assessment on large banks, leaving about $2.7B on the fund. The assessment was collected from 141 banks between June 2024 and March 2026. The FDIC's latest estimate of the amount to be recovered is about $16.7B; estimates change as the receiverships sell assets.
Legal authority: Federal Deposit Insurance Act, systemic risk exception.
Who got it: Estimated cost to the insurance fund (FDIC, May 2023)
Silicon Valley Bank$16.1B
Signature Bank$2.40B
Worth knowing
The Fed also opened an emergency lending program for banks (BTFP), which peaked around $165–170B, was fully repaid, and earned the Fed $8.9B in interest and fees.