Abstract:
A method and machine readable storage for an enhanced return federally insured deposit program. A banking method consistent with the present invention can include receiving deposits from multiple customers into a custody account at a bank for enabling management of the received deposits by an administrator of the deposits. The received deposits can be distributed into corresponding custody accounts at a multitude of different issuer banks. In this regard, the distribution of the received deposits can be managed to maintain an agreed upon minimum level of deposits at different contracted issuer banks.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Statement of the Technical Field 
     The present invention relates to the field of investment and deposit funding, and more particularly to the management of agreed upon minimum levels of large deposits in Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured banks and savings and loan institutions. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Under United States banking law, a bank deposit is supported by the full faith and credit of the United States Government so long as the amount of the deposit in the bank does not exceed the Federal deposit insurance limit of one-hundred thousand dollars ($100,000). The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) is a federal governmental entity charged with implementing the foregoing guarantee by providing insurance for deposits in all Federal and State licensed banks and savings institutions in the United States. Generally, bank deposits are insured by the FDIC Bank Insurance Fund (“BIF”) and the deposits of savings institutions are insured by the FDIC Savings Association Insurance Fund (“SAIF”). 
     The law and resulting administrative regulations governing the insurance of deposits within banking institutions insured by the BIF and the SAIF are identical. In both cases, the FDIC bases insurance coverage on the concept of ownership rights and capacities. Specifically, funds held in different ownership categories are insured separately from each other, and funds of the same ownership but held in different accounts are subsumed under the same insurance coverage. Regardless, the amount of insurance covered provided to depositors of each institution insured by BIF and SAIF is the same: $100,000 to the owner(s) of the funds in the account(s), including principal and interest. 
     As a result of the FDIC structure of insurance, investors holding funds which substantially exceed the $100,000 FDIC insurance limit generally do not utilize the bank deposit vehicle. In particular, investors holding funds which exceed $100,000 avoid cash deposits because the amount of funds which exceed the $100,000 limit must be distributed across so many different banks so as to render the exercise burdensome in establishing the accounts and even more burdensome in maintaining the different accounts. 
     To address the foregoing deficiencies of the banking system, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/326,937 entitled Certificate of Deposit Agency Portfolio System and Method by Jorge H. Coloma (hereinafter, the “CDAP System”), teaches a computerized system for managing the distribution of large deposits across multiple banks in order to facilitate deposits by large institutional sources of capital while maintaining FDIC insurance for the $100,000 elements of the deposit. So much has been legally confirmed by the FDIC that the CDAP System would allow for the “pass through” of FDIC insurance to depositors. 
     However, for large institutional short term (money market) deposits, since the funds must remain available for withdrawal at any time on demand, and carry a higher, more competitive rate of interest required for institutional investors, normal deposit structures under the CDAP System are not generally attractive to a large number banks. In order to make the CDAP System for institutional deposits acceptable to a large number of banks, the deposits must be managed in such a way so as to enable the offering of a longer term commitment of funds to bank issuers. The longer term commitment of funds to a bank issuer would render the deposits more attractive since the deposits would be more reliable and the bank could achieve a greater “time value of money” in order to justify the payment of a higher rate of return than ordinarily provided for short term funds. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention addresses the deficiencies of the art in respect to large, short-term deposits and provides a novel and non-obvious method, system and apparatus for producing an enhanced return for federally insured, short-term deposits. In this regard, the present invention provides a system for administering large deposits applied to a multitude of banks in a manner that will assure the banks of a continuous source of deposits over a chosen period of time, for example one to three years. The banks can be assured of a continuous source of deposits even though the deposited funds are held as money market funds. 
     The administrator of the deposits in the system, having the right under the terms of its agreement with depositors to reposition deposits at any bank that is “qualified” in accordance with FDIC standards, can offer to selected banks agreeing to provide a higher rate of interest, an agreement to manage the support of a specified “committed” deposit level at the bank. The administrator can fulfill its contractual obligation by applying requests for withdrawals to deposits held at other banks and moving funds from other banks which have not agreed to pay the higher rate of interest in order to obtain the managed deposit commitment from the administrator. Thus, the amounts of all funds deposited in all banks in the administrator&#39;s network, can be used to support the administrator&#39;s commitment to maintain the committed balance at the contracted banks. 
     A banking method consistent with the present invention can include receiving deposits from multiple customers into a custody account at a bank for enabling management of the received deposits by an administrator of the deposits. The received deposits can be distributed into corresponding custody accounts at a multitude of different issuer banks. In this regard, the distribution of the received deposits can be managed to maintain an agreed upon level of aggregate deposits with different issuer banks in order to receive from the different issuer banks an enhanced interest rate payable on the aggregate deposits under the terms of an agreement between the administrator and issuer banks that desire such assurance (the “Contracted Issuer Banks”). 
     The method further can include receiving depositor instructions for a withdrawal of funds and executing a two stage process. In response, in a first stage, it can be determined whether the withdrawal of funds could cause aggregate deposit level in any of the Contracted Issuer Banks to fall below the agreed upon level of deposits for any such Contracted Issuer Bank. If it is determined in the first stage of processing that the withdrawal of funds could cause deposit levels in any Contracted Issuer Bank to fall below the agreed upon level of aggregate deposits as a second stage of processing, other deposits managed by the administrator and held at other issuer banks can be redistributed to maintain the agreed upon level of aggregate deposits at the Contracted Issuer Banks. 
     The method yet further can include monitoring the issuer banks to ensure that each of the issuer banks is qualified by the administrator&#39;s standards which can include a reference to financial ratios reported to the FDIC, which determine whether the issuer bank is “well-capitalized” by FDIC standards. For each individual one of the issuer banks, the receiving, distributing and managing steps can continued to be performed only so long as the individual one of the issuer banks remains qualified (optionally, subject to a grace period for correcting any failure to remain qualified). Finally, the method yet further can include a “penalty” to the administrator in the form of a reduction in the interest rate on the deposits to the extent that the administrator fails to maintain the level of aggregate deposits agreed to with the Contracted Issuer Bank. 
     Additional aspects of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The aspects of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. The embodiments illustrated herein are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of a system, method and apparatus for producing an enhanced return for federally insured deposits across multiple depositor banks; and, 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating a process for producing an enhanced return for federally insured deposits across multiple depositor banks. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     To achieve an enhanced interest rate while maintaining FDIC insured status, this invention provides, through a two stage managed account system structure Stage  1  of which system structure includes: (1) a system for managing a plurality of accounts for multiple clients through a custodial bank which holds all of the funds for the insured deposit accounts, (2) providing a database having client information for each client&#39;s account, (3) administering clients&#39; deposits into and withdrawals out of each of their respective accounts, (4) reviewing on a daily basis the net effect of deposits and withdrawals from all accounts in order to manage the level of deposits at those banks which have entered into an agreement to obtain “managed” deposits. Stage  2  of the system structure includes: (1) using the determination of the net effect of daily transactions to maintain a committed level of deposits at a Contracted Issuer Bank by withdrawing deposits from other banks (non-Contracted Issuer Banks) to redirect those deposit funds into the Contracted Issuer Bank since the administrator has made a commitment to maintain a certain level of deposits at that bank, and (2) updating the database for each client&#39;s deposits once the redistribution has been made in order to maintain customer data required to support the FDIC insured status. 
     In more particular illustration,  FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of a system, method and apparatus for producing an enhanced return for federally insured deposits across multiple depositor banks. The system can include a program administrator  120  associated with one or more custodial banks  130 . The custodian bank  130  can be configured to accept deposits by depositors  110  with the understanding and agreement of the depositors  110  that the program administrator  120  will be responsible for directing with which banks deposits are placed, subject to any particular rules, limitations or conditions made by the investor. 
     The program administrator  120  further can have a contractual relationship with multiple FDIC qualified banks  140 . In this regard, the program administrator  120  can repeatedly over time confirm the qualification of the banks  140  through a bank qualification process  150 . Generally, the bank qualification process  150  can ensure that each of the banks  140  is “well-capitalized” under the FDIC guidelines. Importantly, the contractual relationship for any bank  140  can be memorialized in a minimum funds agreement  180 . The minimum funds agreement  180  can specify the level of deposits agreed to be maintained for a particular bank  140  and the interest rate to be paid on the deposited funds resulting from the contractual obligation of the program administrator  120  to maintain the minimum level of deposits. 
     The program administrator  120  can further maintain a consolidated ledger of deposits  170  for the depositors  110  which can include records indicating the deposit amounts for each depositor  110 , and the bank (or series of banks)  140  holding portions of the deposits as custodian for the depositors. The Stage  2  funds redistribution process can refer to both the consolidated ledger  170  and the minimum funds agreement  180  in order to manage deposit and withdrawal requests by the depositors  110  while maintaining optimal balances in each of the banks  140  according to each of the minimum funds agreement  180  for each of the banks  140  and the requirement that all of the deposits for the individual depositors  110  are to remain FDIC insured. 
     In more specific illustration of the operation of the funds redistribution process  160 ,  FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating a process for producing an enhanced return for federally insured deposits across multiple depositor banks. Beginning in block  200 , a depositor can initiate a transaction through the custodian bank. The transaction can include a deposit or a withdrawal. In response to the transaction, in decision block  210 , it can be determined whether the transaction is a deposit (debit) or withdrawal (credit). 
     In the event that the transaction is a debit, in block  220 , the account for the depositor can be debited by the transaction amount. Additionally, in decision block  230  it can be determined whether the transaction amount results in the total deposits for the depositor in the account exceeding the FDIC insurance limit. If not, in block  240  the transaction amount can be applied to the currently designated account and the process can end in block  300 . Otherwise, in block  280 , the remaining funds can be dispersed among additional accounts and different banks to ensure that the funds for the depositor do not exceed the FDIC insurance limit at any one bank. 
     Returning now to decision block  210 , if the transaction is determined to be a withdrawal resulting in a crediting of the account of the depositor in block  250 , in block  260  the deposit limit agreements for the banks holding the underlying funds of the depositor can be inspected to identify the agreed upon minimum deposit levels. Based upon the inspection, in decision block  270  as the Stage  1  processing it can be determined whether crediting of funds will result in any bank having deposits which fall below the agreed upon minimum deposit levels. If not, the process can end in block  300 . Otherwise, in block  290  as the Stage  2  processing the funds held by the different banks can be rebalanced to meet the considerations of the agreements while maintaining FDIC insurance on all deposits. In this regard, the considerations can include ensuring that the banks agreeing to the most enhanced interest rates for deposits hold deposits which exceed the minimum agreed upon deposit levels. 
     The present invention can be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. An implementation of the method and system of the present invention can be realized in a centralized fashion in one computer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind of computer system, or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein, is suited to perform the functions described herein. 
     A typical combination of hardware and software could be a general purpose computer system with a computer program that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein. The present invention can also be embedded in a computer program product, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein, and which, when loaded in a computer system is able to carry out these methods. 
     Computer program or application in the present context means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following a) conversion to another language, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different material form. Significantly, this invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and accordingly, reference should be had to the following claims, rather than to the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope of the invention.