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Insurance fund

Since FCSIC’s inception in 1989, the Insurance Fund has grown from the initial seed money of $260 million from the United States Treasury to more than $7.5 billion as of December 31, 2023. While currently funded through collection of premiums from System banks and investment earnings, FCSIC’s Farm Credit Insurance Fund is an asset of the United States government.

Congress directed FCSIC to maintain the Insurance Fund at a statutory target level known as the “secure base amount” (SBA). Congress defined the SBA as 2 percent of the aggregate of outstanding insured debt obligations of all insured banks, adjusted to exclude certain government-guaranteed loans and investments. Because of the deductions, in recent years FCSIC has held around 1.74 percent of total insured debt as the SBA.

Congress also provided that FCSIC, in its sole discretion, may adopt a different percentage it “determines is actuarially sound to maintain the Insurance Fund taking into account the risk of insuring outstanding obligations.” FCSIC has maintained the SBA at the statutory 2% level since the inception of the Insurance Fund and is committed to doing so unless it determines 2% is not “actuarially sound.” To date, FCSIC has concluded that 2% remains actuarially sound.

Please see FAQs for more information about the Insurance Fund

This chart shows the insurance fund balance from 2000 to 2023. From 2000 to 2009, there was a steady increase from about $1.5 billion to about $2 billion in 2005 to about $3.3 billion in 2009. The balance fell slightly in 2010 and rose slightly in 2011. From 2012 to 2023, there was a steady increase from about $3.3 billion to about $5 billion in 2018 to about $7.5 billion in 2023.
 
Final Trend Analysis of Outstanding Insured Obligations (PDF)
 
Final Secure Base Amount Calculation (PDF)