Apr. 30--Local bankers have joined their counterparts across the country in voicing concern about an "assessment" imposed on them to replenish the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. fund.

That fund, which insures bank deposits, has been drained by bank failures around the country in the past two years, including a couple of failures that hit close to Joplin.

For some area banks, the assessment will reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time when they say they are being encouraged to make more loans to get the economy moving again.

"It runs counter to their purposes of stimulating the economy," said Ray Stipp, president of Community Bank and Trust, based in Neosho.

CBT recently received the highest rating possible from Bauer Financial, which is five stars, yet it will be assessed a fee at the same rate as free-wheeling, easy-dealing banks around the country that made risky loans and relied on taxpayer bailout money. Stipp calls that setup "patently unfair."

David Barr, spokesman for the FDIC, said Congress requires that the insurance fund be maintained at a minimum level, and right now that is $1.15 for every $100 of total insured deposits. Through the end of 2007, the fund balance stood at nearly $51.8 billion, but bank failures in 2008 and money set aside to cover bank failures through the rest of 2009 ran the fund down to $18.9 billion, he said. That's about 40 cents for every $100 of insured deposits -- the lowest level for the fund since 1987.

"We're a third of the size Congress mandates us to be," Barr said.

Barr said the FDIC board expects bank failures nationwide to cost the fund about $65 billion through 2013, at a time when the fund is replenished at the rate of $12 billion per year.

So in February, the FDIC announced an "assessment" for banks of 20 cents for every $100 in insured deposits. Both Barr and the bankers also said that may not be the final figure.

"You got to be realistic. The fund is going to have to be replenished," said John Finley, president of First National Bank and Trust of Miami, Okla.

But he thinks the FDIC could lower the assessment and/or slow the rate at which the fund is replenished.

"Why give Wells Fargo and Bank of America billions and billions, and not help community banks?" Finley said. He said small community banks are not seeking taxpayer money, just an easing of the rate at which the FDIC will rebuild the fund.

Stipp, with CBT, thinks a better option might be to use a formula that takes into account the risks that all banks took, rather than using a formula based solely on deposits for the one-time assessment.