The bipartisan proposal to increase Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation coverage from $250,000 to $10 million for non-interest-bearing business accounts has been marketed as the “Main Street Depositor Protection Act.” Despite its populist branding, this legislation represents a misguided policy that would expose taxpayers to enormous risk, eliminate crucial market discipline and primarily benefit wealthy corporations rather than ordinary Americans.
The fundamental problem with this proposal is the massive moral hazard it creates. If deposit insurance increases to $10 million, banks can take increasingly risky investment strategies, knowing the government will bail out their depositors if things go wrong. Large depositors, no longer concerned about their bank’s financial health, will stop monitoring institutional stability. This removes a critical check on reckless behavior. If sophisticated business clients with millions at stake no longer scrutinize their bank’s balance sheet, who will? The result is predictable: Banks profit when risky bets succeed, but taxpayers foot the bill when they fail.
The financial costs could be substantial. The banking industry would face significantly higher FDIC premiums to maintain adequate reserves for the expanded coverage—a 40-fold increase in the insurance cap for certain accounts. These costs would not be absorbed by banks. They would be passed directly to consumers, through higher fees and initially reduced lending and less favorable loan terms.
Proponents claim this would help Main Street, but the numbers tell a different story. Currently, over 99% of U.S. bank accounts are already covered by the existing $250,000 limit. Small businesses typically hold around $12,000 in their accounts—nowhere near the current cap. The real beneficiaries are large corporations with multimillion-dollar payroll accounts, not mom-and-pop operations. This is essentially a wealth transfer from ordinary depositors to the wealthiest 1%.
Furthermore, the existing system already provides adequate protection. During the 2023 banking crisis, when Silicon Valley Bank failed, regulators invoked emergency powers to protect all depositors, demonstrating that mechanisms exist to prevent systemic collapse when truly necessary. Additionally, private sector solutions such as reciprocal deposit networks and sweep accounts already allow businesses to insure larger amounts without taxpayer guarantees.
The proposal also undermines the primary purpose of deposit insurance, which was designed to protect ordinary savers from losing their life savings, not to shield corporations from the consequences of poor due diligence. By subsidizing risk-taking among the wealthiest depositors, we encourage exactly the kind of behavior that has led to previous banking crises.
Finally, the FDIC’s own research shows that expanded deposit insurance raises borrowing costs and reduces lending—hardly the outcome proponents promise. Rather than strengthening community banks, this proposal would weaken market discipline across the entire banking system, while concentrating risk in government coffers.
Instead of expanding federal guarantees, we need more market accountability, not less. Banks should compete on financial strength and service quality, and large depositors should bear responsibility for choosing where to place their funds. Raising the insurance cap to $10 million moves us in precisely the wrong direction.
