FDIC Podcast

Risk is all around us. The FDIC recently published its latest comprehensive summary of emerging risks in the U.S. banking system.  FDIC researchers Krishna Patel and Kathy Kalser sit down for a conversation focusing on the risks facing our nation’s banks.

Today, our nation’s banks are confronting a number of emerging threats.  FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji sits down with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to address resilience in the banking system.  What is resilience?  As Sec. Chertoff put it, “the ability to take a punch and get back up on your feet.”

Everyone is talking about innovation in banking these days, but what is being done to engineer innovation into our banking sector? FDIC’s Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji sits down with Jimmie Lenz of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering to discuss how to build the banking system of the future.

Most of us have at least one bank or credit union account to help manage our money but millions of people are ‘unbanked,’ forced to rely on a patchwork of higher cost financial products and services outside of the regulated banking space. The FDIC’s Leonard Chanin and Jonathan Mintz of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund discuss why it is so important to bring unbanked families into our financial system.

Three words are increasingly becoming part of our national conversation —diversity, equity and inclusion.  FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams and Nikita Pearson, Director of the FDIC’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, discuss how to turn these aspirational words into something tangible to benefit those historically disconnected from our banking system.

Today, it's no longer a question of whether to innovate —Innovation is a fact of life. In the first episode of a special series of the FDIC Podcast, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams and Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Mehgji discuss how innovation can drive a safer, resilient and more inclusive financial system. 

The agricultural sector is a big piece of our nation’s economy and the fortunes of farmers are also tied closely to the health of the global economy. FDIC Researchers John Anderlik and Rich Cofer take us down on the farm to understand the ups and downs of farming and the farm banks that serve this sector.

Last year was a year most of us would gladly forget. The global pandemic turned our personal and economic lives upside down —but how did our banks fare and how did our banking system hold up?  Pat Mitchell and Meg Hanrahan, two senior FDIC financial analysts, look back on 2020 and how our nation’s banks navigated the storm.

Technology is transforming the banking landscape, offering both opportunities and challenges for banks, regulators and consumers. FDIC’s first-ever Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji looks at how artificial intelligence and quantum computing are fundamentally reshaping our banking ecosystem.

There are more than 5,000 banks in the U.S. and while some may be household names, most are smaller institutions offering capital and financial services within their communities. The FDIC’s Diane Ellis and Shayna Olesiuk explore the just-released 2020 Community Banking Study which looks at the state of the nation’s community banks and the critical role they play in our broader economy.