IBA Compliance Connection

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Our marketing brochure for the bank promotes our safe deposit boxes, among other services. The front of the brochure includes the “Member FDIC” disclosure. We were told that we should not include that disclosure when marketing nondeposit products. Should we remove the Member FDIC disclosure from the brochure?

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admin

No. You are required to include the “Member FDIC” disclosure on the brochure. 

The FDIC requires you to use the Member FDIC disclosure when marketing both deposit and nondeposit products in an advertisement. In advertisements combining deposit and nondeposit products, you must “clearly segregate” the Member FDIC disclosure from information about the nondeposit products. In addition, FDIC guidance has stated that in combined advertisements, “the advertisement should make very clear which deposits are insured and which obligations are not insured.” 

From what you have told us, your Member FDIC disclosure on this piece is segregated from the safe deposit box information, and we are assuming they appear on separate pages of the brochure. However, we recommend that you add a statement that the safe deposit boxes are not FDIC-insured. 

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • 12 CFR 328.3(e)(4) (“In advertisements containing information about both insured deposit products and non-deposit products or hybrid products, an insured depository institution shall clearly segregate the official advertising statement or any similar statement from that portion of the advertisement that relates to the non-deposit products.”)
  • FDIC, Advisory Opinion 93-2 (January 14, 1993) (“The regulations do not explicitly prohibit the use of the FDIC logo in bank advertising. In cases where the public might confuse the bank's solicitation of deposits with the accompanying solicitation of potentially confusing non-deposit obligations, the logo may contribute to public confusion. . . . if the two are combined, the advertisement should make it very clear, which deposits are insured and which obligations are not insured.”) [The FDIC has informed the IBA that it has removed all of its advisory opinions from its website due to a high risk of staleness. We have provided links to archived versions of the advisory opinions for your convenience. If you have a question about an advisory opinion, the FDIC recommends that you contact your FDIC Field Office, which you can find by clicking here.]