I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2897 
To amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to return a sense of fairness 
and accountability to the deposit insurance premium assessment process, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 16, 2009 
Mr. GUTIERREZ (for himself, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. MOORE of 
Wisconsin, and Ms. LEE of California) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to return a 
sense of fairness and accountability to the deposit insur-
ance premium assessment process, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bank Accountability 
and Risk Assessment Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
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(1) The unprecedented Government intervention 
into the financial markets in 2008 was required by 
a threat to our Nation’s economy from large, com-
plex, and deeply inter-connected financial institu-
tions, many of which were on the verge of failing. 
(2) The necessary Government intervention in 
the financial system placed hundreds of billions of 
taxpayer dollars at risk. 
(3) Many of the financial institutions involved 
in the crisis were so large and their dealings so 
intertwined that their failures could have led to the 
collapse of America’s financial system. 
(4) The scale of the banking system crisis put 
severe strains on the Deposit Insurance Fund of the 
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. 
(5) The depository institutions that present a 
systemic risk to the financial system would over-
whelm the resources of the Deposit Insurance Fund 
if one or more of them were to fail. 
(6) Without a substantial increase in the De-
posit Insurance Fund, depository institutions that 
are deemed ‘‘too-big-to-fail’’ will remain potential 
threats to the health of the entire financial system 
and possibly place U.S. taxpayer dollars at risk. 
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(7) It is inherently unfair to require the finan-
cial institutions that are too small to be systemic 
risks, or that do not become involved in the most 
risky, questionable, and harmful financial practices, 
to share the financial responsibility for the failures 
of these ‘‘too-big-to-fail’’ institutions. 
(8) Large depository institutions whose failure 
may threaten the safety and soundness of the entire 
financial system should be assessed premiums based 
on their potential risk to the system, not just on the 
deposits they hold. 
(9) The Deposit Insurance Fund should be in-
sulated against potential financial crises, the finan-
cial institutions that cause a crisis in the future 
must be held accountable, and U.S. taxpayer dollars 
should not be placed at risk. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to main-
tain the safety and soundness of the U.S. banking system 
by ensuring that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corpora-
tions’ Deposit Insurance Fund is adequately capitalized 
to respond to the failures of large depository institutions 
that would otherwise threaten our financial system and 
to return a sense of fairness and accountability to the de-
posit insurance premium assessment process. 
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SEC. 3. ACCOUNTING FOR ACTUAL RISK TO THE DEPOSIT 
INSURANCE FUND. 
(a) Section 7(b)(1)(C) of the Federal Deposit Insur-
ance Act is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(C) ‘RISK-BASED
ASSESSMENT
SYSTEM’ 
DEFINED.—For purposes of this paragraph, the 
term ‘risk-based assessment system’ means a 
system for calculating a depository institution’s 
assessment based on— 
‘‘(i) the probability that the Deposit 
Insurance Fund will incur a loss with re-
spect to the institution; 
‘‘(ii) the likely amount of any such 
loss; 
‘‘(iii) the risks to the Deposit Insur-
ance Fund attributable to such depository 
institution and its affiliates, taking into ac-
count— 
‘‘(I) the amount, different cat-
egories, and concentrations of assets 
of the insured depository institution 
and its affiliates, including both on- 
balance sheet and off-balance sheet 
assets; 
‘‘(II) the amount, different cat-
egories, and concentrations of liabil-
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ities, both insured and uninsured, con-
tingent and noncontingent, including 
both on-balance sheet and off-balance 
sheet liabilities, of the insured deposi-
tory institution and its affiliates; and 
‘‘(III) any other factors the Cor-
poration determines are relevant to 
assessing the risks; and 
‘‘(iv) the revenue needs of the Deposit 
Insurance Fund.’’. 
(b) Section 7(b)(1) of the Federal Deposit Insurance 
Act is further amended by redesignating subparagraphs 
(E) and (F) as subparagraphs (F) and (G), respectively, 
and by adding the following new subparagraph (E): 
‘‘(E) SYSTEMIC RISK PREMIUM.— 
‘‘(i) In addition to any annual assess-
ment imposed under paragraph (2) or spe-
cial assessment imposed under paragraph 
(5), the Board of Directors shall impose a 
systemic risk assessment, at least annually, 
on all systemically important depository in-
stitutions. For purposes of the subpara-
graph, ‘systemically important depository 
institution’ shall mean an insured deposi-
tory institution that is designated as sys-
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‘‘(ii) the amount of the insured depos-
itory institution’s average total assets dur-
ing the assessment period minus the 
amount of the insured depository institu-
tion’s average tangible equity during the 
assesssment period.’’. 
Æ 
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