No, we do not believe that you must include the FDIC logo on CD maturity notices, but we recommend reviewing the prematurity notices to ensure that they could not be viewed as advertisements for your bank.

The FDIC’s Advertisement of Membership rule requires banks to include the “Member FDIC” or “Member of FDIC” statement in “advertisements” (with certain exceptions). The rule defines an “advertisement” as “a commercial message, in any medium, that is designed to attract public attention or patronage to a product or business.”

In our view, the maturity notices required by Regulation DD are not “advertisements” because they are not intended to attract public attention or patronage. An FDIC advisory opinion confirmed that in the context of a bank website, a transaction page used to view account statements does not constitute an advertisement triggering the FDIC logo requirement (unless the webpages include “information touting either the bank or one of its products or services”). The same logic would apply to these CD maturity notices. Consequently, we believe that the FDIC logo requirement is inapplicable, except in the rare occasions where a CD maturity notice is used to tout the bank or one of its products or services.

We spoke with an attorney at the FDIC who initially agreed that a CD maturity notice does not constitute an advertisement, but she stopped short of giving a formal opinion. Until we hear differently from the FDIC, it is our view that a CD maturity notice does not require an FDIC advertising statement.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• FDIC Regulations, 12 CFR 328.3(c)(1) (“Except as provided in § 328.3(d), each insured depository institution shall include the official advertising statement prescribed in § 328.3(b) in all advertisements that either promote deposit products and services or promote non-specific banking products and services offered by the institution.  For purposes of this §328.3, an advertisement promotes non-specific banking products and services if it includes the name of the insured depository institution but does not list or describe particular products or services offered by the institution.”)

• FDIC Regulations, 12 CFR 328.3(a) (“The term ‘advertisement,’ as used in this part, shall mean a commercial message, in any medium, that is designed to attract public attention or patronage to a product or business.”)

• FDIC Advisory Opinion, FDIC 00-10 — Whether the Rules Regarding the Use of the FDIC Logo Apply to Insured Institution Web Sites (November 3, 2000) (“Is the official advertising statement required on X's transactional Internet banking pages? . . . we do not consider web pages that allow customers to conduct transactions or review statements and contain no other information to be advertisements. Thus, the official advertising statement is not required on such web pages. However, a transactional web page that also includes information touting either the bank or one of its products or services would be an advertisement. As an advertisement it would require the official advertising statement, unless it was subject to one of the exceptions to the requirement under section 328.3(c).”) 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.