FDIC Podcast

All across our nation, minority banks and community development financial institutions work and lend in lower income communities where, if not for these banks, there would be no banking presence at all. FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams recently launched a first-of-its kind investment fund to support these banks. It’s called the Mission-Driven Bank Fund. In this episode, Chairman McWilliams speaks w...

In an age when technology is changing our lives in so many ways, the FDIC Podcast looks ahead into the not too distant future to imagine how quantum computing may open a new frontier in how our banks operate. FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji is joined by three of the nation’s leading minds in quantum computing from Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering: Dr. Jimmie Lenz,  Dr...

In part two of this special episode of the FDIC Podcast, we continue our historical look back on the financial crises that shaped how our banking and financial systems operate today.  Art Murton, Deputy to the Chairman for Financial Stability, picks up where we left off in part one —the collapse of the nation’s savings and loans in the 1980s.

In a two-part episode of the FDIC Podcast, we take a trip down memory lane to recall some of the recent (and not so recent) financial crises, how we recovered from those disruption, and what that means for us today.  In his more than 35 years at the FDIC, Art Murton, Deputy to the Chairman for Financial Stability,  has seen it all. Since joining the agency as an economist in 1986, Art ha...

When it comes to malicious cyber attacks against our financial system, how prepared are our nation’s banks? FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji sits down with Tim Maurer, Senior Counselor for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Together, they discuss what banks must do to defend themselves and how should they plan for recovering from these att...

Risk is all around us. The FDIC recently published its latest comprehensive summary of emerging risks in the U.S. banking system.  FDIC researchers Krishna Patel and Kathy Kalser sit down for a conversation focusing on the risks facing our nation’s banks.

Today, our nation’s banks are confronting a number of emerging threats.  FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji sits down with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to address resilience in the banking system.  What is resilience?  As Sec. Chertoff put it, “the ability to take a punch and get back up on your feet.”

Most of us have at least one bank or credit union account to help manage our money but millions of people are ‘unbanked,’ forced to rely on a patchwork of higher cost financial products and services outside of the regulated banking space. The FDIC’s Leonard Chanin and Jonathan Mintz of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund discuss why it is so important to bring unbanked families into our fina...

Everyone is talking about innovation in banking these days, but what is being done to engineer innovation into our banking sector? FDIC’s Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji sits down with Jimmie Lenz of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering to discuss how to build the banking system of the future.

Three words are increasingly becoming part of our national conversation —diversity, equity and inclusion.  FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams and Nikita Pearson, Director of the FDIC’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, discuss how to turn these aspirational words into something tangible to benefit those historically disconnected from our banking system.

Today, it's no longer a question of whether to innovate —Innovation is a fact of life. In the first episode of a special series of the FDIC Podcast, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams and Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Mehgji discuss how innovation can drive a safer, resilient and more inclusive financial system. 

The agricultural sector is a big piece of our nation’s economy and the fortunes of farmers are also tied closely to the health of the global economy. FDIC Researchers John Anderlik and Rich Cofer take us down on the farm to understand the ups and downs of farming and the farm banks that serve this sector.

Last year was a year most of us would gladly forget. The global pandemic turned our personal and economic lives upside down —but how did our banks fare and how did our banking system hold up?  Pat Mitchell and Meg Hanrahan, two senior FDIC financial analysts, look back on 2020 and how our nation’s banks navigated the storm.

Technology is transforming the banking landscape, offering both opportunities and challenges for banks, regulators and consumers. FDIC’s first-ever Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji looks at how artificial intelligence and quantum computing are fundamentally reshaping our banking ecosystem.

There are more than 5,000 banks in the U.S. and while some may be household names, most are smaller institutions offering capital and financial services within their communities. The FDIC’s Diane Ellis and Shayna Olesiuk explore the just-released 2020 Community Banking Study which looks at the state of the nation’s community banks and the critical role they play in our broader economy.

During the current global pandemic, how are the nation’s community banks performing in extending credit to struggling small businesses through the Small Business Administration’s   Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ? The FDIC’s Diane Ellis and Angela Hinton discuss new evidence that reveals the deep roots community banks have into the nation’s small business sector.

We bank very differently than we used to. Rather than visiting a bank teller, most U.S. households are banking online or using their personal electronic devices. In this episode of the FDIC Podcast, economist Karyen Chu discusses the results of the FDIC’s 2019 ‘How America Banks’ Survey.

There is a technological wave sweeping over our banking system, changing how banks operate and even how we bank.  In this episode, Brandon Milhorn discusses an FDIC effort to promote the adoption of new technology as a means to ensure everyone can participate in the financial life of this country.

What's in a number? When it comes to your credit score, a lot! The FDIC's Leonard Chanin examines what goes into your credit score and why it matters so much in your financial life.

Alden McDonald, President and CEO of Liberty Bank, an African American owned and managed bank, joins us to talk about the critical role of Minority Depository Institutions in our nation’s banking system and how they serve the financial needs of communities of color.

By speaking with thought leaders and experts in finance, the FDIC Podcast aspires to untangle the myths and mystery of the banking world, and to shed light on how every family can become part of the financial fabric of this country.

Against the backdrop of the global public health emergency, Chairman Jelena McWilliams discusses the state of banking in the United States, and the efforts of the FDIC and other regulators to ensure banks are best positioned to aid in the nation’s economic recovery.