Dive Brief:

• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board issued a proposed rule Tuesday that would amend the agency’s signage rules, simplifying the requirements for banks to display the FDIC’s official digital sign and non-deposit signage on bank websites and mobile apps, as well as ATMs.
• The proposed changes are meant to adjust requirements adopted in a 2023 final rule meant to protect against false advertising, misrepresentations and misuse of the FDIC’s logo, the agency said Tuesday. The proposal focuses display requirements toward screens and webpages most relevant to consumers, according to the agency.
• “The proposed changes are intended to address implementation issues and sources of potential confusion that have arisen following the adoption of current signage requirements for these banking channels,” the FDIC said.

Dive Insight:

The proposal was issued Tuesday, although the board did not hold a public meeting. The FDIC said it aims to address implementation issues and reduce burden with the new proposal. 

In December 2023, the FDIC board finalized a rule that required FDIC-insured depository institutions to display a new FDIC sign across all of their digital channels by January 2025. The rule also required insured and non-deposit products be explicitly labeled. 

The rule formalized long-running guidance, but the FDIC felt clear labeling was needed with the prevalence of digital banking, then-Chair Martin Gruenberg said at the time.   

But portions of the 2023 rule – which established an FDIC official digital sign and intended to more clearly distinguish between FDIC-insured banks and fintech companies that aren’t insured – had already been pushed back, based on feedback from banks and other industry participants, the FDIC said. 

“Some stakeholders stated that the signage requirements were ‘overly prescriptive’ and ‘technical,’ especially as to the specifications of the FDIC official digital sign,” the agency noted Tuesday. 

Some also noted banks “would benefit from additional flexibility in displaying the FDIC official digital sign on pages and screens where space is limited, particularly with respect to mobile banking.” 

Other challenges stakeholders mentioned included providing appropriate disclosures as customers move to third-party websites, or signage requirements confusing customers when insured products are listed on the same webpage as non-deposit products.

Tuesday’s proposal seeks to address those concerns by clarifying and providing more flexibility with respect to the FDIC official digital sign design, display of signage on digital deposit-taking channels and display of signage on ATMs. 

Among other things, the proposal would scrap the requirement that banks must inform customers of FDIC insurance on a bank’s landing page. Similarly, banks would be permitted to include the FDIC disclaimer – warning customers that non-deposit products are not FDIC-insured and could lose value – on fewer webpages, keeping them on webpages focused on non-deposit products.

The proposal “would provide additional flexibility to [insured depository institutions] while also enabling consumers to better understand when they are conducting business with an IDI and when their funds are protected by the FDIC’s deposit insurance coverage,” the agency said. 

The FDIC will accept comments on the proposal for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.