Between 600 and 700 employees of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. — just over 10% of the agency's workforce — have been let go as of the last day of February, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The separations are due both to the termination of probationary employees as well as employees who decided to take deferred resignation offers and leave voluntarily. More cuts are likely.
This comes after the Office of Personnel Management sent an email to all agencies directing employees to list their weekly accomplishments. Elon Musk, an advisor to the president, announced the directive on X, warning that failure to comply
The National Treasury Employees Union — which advocates for employees from 37 departments and offices, including FDIC staff — criticized the directive. The American Federation of Government Employees also
The move is part of a government-wide effort to reduce federal employment through deferred resignation offers, a buyout program that's been used by the Trump administration.
Under a deferred resignation offer, employees may resign while staying on paid administrative leave until a set date, in this case Sept. 30. Some fear the administration won't uphold these agreements, as it is not clear whether there are ample funds for such arrangements. About 75,000 federal employees have accepted the offer.
The latest numbers come after Bloomberg
The FDIC is also in the process of identifying staff positions and any programs within the agency not explicitly required by law as part of an
Pursuant to
The Office of Personnel Management has set a March 13 deadline for agencies to present workforce-reduction plans. Most departing FDIC employees so far were either close to retirement or concerned about return-to-office mandates.
The staffing cuts have been met with concern at a time that the FDIC already faces a shortage of bank examiners in the wake of 2023 bank failures, including Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank. A 2023 inspector general report
In addition to employee separations, the FDIC rescinded more than 200 job offers for bank examiners in January. Democratic senators, led by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts,
Their concerns stem from the FDIC's struggles in responding to the March 2023 collapse of Signature Bank, which cost the Deposit Insurance Fund $2.4 billion. A prior inspector general report found staffing shortages hindered FDIC oversight, with 40% of large bank examiner positions vacant between 2020 and 2023, leading to supervisory lapses. The senators asked the inspector general to determine whether the administration's cuts undermine previous oversight recommendations.
The Trump administration is also reportedly exploring structural changes to financial regulators, with reports suggesting White House advisors have floated folding parts of the FDIC into the OCC or the Treasury. While a person familiar with the matter said the agency was subject to the workforce-reduction effort, the person said there haven't yet been explicit conversations about consolidating the agency with DOGE officials.
Regarding the workforce reductions, TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg said the move produces short-term benefits for banks, but also longer-term risks for regulated firms.
"Financial firms retain their liability for rules until the rules are changed … with fewer people at the agencies, the regulators may be slower to adjust those regulations," he wrote Friday. "We also worry that those who quit in frustration are those who are most likely to secure employment elsewhere[, meaning,] the least effective employees will be the ones who remain."
