Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | NOVEMBER 17, 2025 11 billion in deposits, said some big business customers expressed the same concerns to him in the wake of the bank failures. "During that crisis, there was a customer calling and potentially pulling money out, and we did have several that ultimately did," Rotatori said. Expanding the FDIC limit to $10 million for some business accounts would make that less of an issue, Lewis said. "It seems like a pretty reasonable approach to help community and regional banks kind of compete with business customers against the national banks," he said. Spreading risk Midsize and small banks, though, have had a way to protect their business customers' deposits even without help from the FDIC. Banks nationwide, including Ion and Thomaston Savings, use private firms that provide a way to safeguard deposits that exceed the existing $250,000 FDIC limit. Several companies — including IntraFi, R&T Deposit Solutions and ModernFi — offer services that auto- matically divide large deposits among a network of FDIC-insured banks, ensuring that each portion remains fully protected. For example, if a business deposits $1 million, the service allocates $750,000 of that amount to three other participating banks, ensuring each receives no more than the FDIC's $250,000 insurance limit. In turn, the original bank reciprocates by accepting similar deposits from other institutions in the network. "Essentially, we've spread the risk and increased the insurance for our customers," Rotatori said. The downside, he noted, is that banks pay a fee for the service and typically pass that cost along to customers — creating "a challenge for smaller businesses." Insure all deposits Rotatori said he supports not only the $10 million cap but also full FDIC insurance for all deposits. "If you break it down, 85% to 90% of all FDIC deposits are already insured because the biggest banks own such a large piece of it anyway" and are considered too big to fail, he said. While all deposits at big banks are technically not insured by the FDIC, the fact that SVB and Signature Bank depositors were made whole beyond the $250,000 limit proves his point, Rotatori said. "So if they're not going to let them fail, anybody bigger than them is not going to be able to fail, and that's 90% of the deposits out there," he said. That final 10%, he added, repre- sent deposits in smaller commu- nity banks, which puts them "at a big disadvantage." The small banks "generally are not going to cost the FDIC as much as the bigger banks will cost," he said, adding that not including the small banks ultimately hurts them and their customers. "We're not trying to save the banks," Rotatori said. "We're trying to save the depositors." Thomas Mongellow, president and CEO of the Connecticut Bankers Association (CBA), is a lot more cautious about raising the FDIC cap. The CBA represents 40 member institutions of all sizes in the state, and has not yet taken an official position on Hagerty's bill. Mongellow said the industry would like the FDIC cap indexed to inflation and for Congress to make FDIC assessment payments tax-deductible for banks. The CBA's preference, he added, would be for the FDIC to take a more holistic approach by creating a program that deals with "a severe stress event, regardless of the size of the bank." "I think there's going to be a lot more discussion that happens on this," Mongellow said, adding that the CBA will wait for more defini- tive solutions before deciding on whether to support them. Thomas Mongellow David Rotatori rrlawpc.com info@rrlawpc.com (860) 278-1150 rrlawpc Our clients include physician practices of various sizes and specialties, community hospitals, federally qualified health centers, behavioral health organizations, community living arrangements, skilled nursing facilities and residential care homes, physicians and other individual practitioners, and home health and hospice care organizations We help our clients bring their vision of care to the communities they serve. Our aim is to simplify the world for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – helping others. We assist providers and organizations in designing and implementing regulatory compliant business practices, evaluating market opportunities, resolving internal and external disputes, and otherwise working to provide business environments that both sustain the livelihoods of those who work in them and add value to the human condition. We also help individual practitioners develop and further their careers. Pictured L to R: Mark X. Ryan, Louis J. Donofrio, Thomas R. Kasper, Cathryn A. Reynolds, Amy B. de Lannoy, Adam Carter Rose, Aidan M. Ely, Brian O'Donnell, Mary Mintel Miller, Jon P. Newton, Colin T. Wrinn HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES SERVICES Certificate of Need Cybersecurity & Patient Privacy Compliance Defense of Government Investigations & Proceedings Managed Care & Medicare/Medicaid Reimbursement Medical Staff Issues Mergers, Acquisitions, & Affiliations Outside General Counsel Services Physician & Facility Licensure Matters Physician Employment & Independent Contractor Relationships Real Estate & Zoning Issues Regulatory Compliance Specialized Financing Tax-Exempt Organizations Vendor Contracting FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORP. ANNUAL ASSESSMENT REVENUE 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 FDIC ASSESSMENT REVENUE Source: FDIC $35B $30B $25B $20B $15B $10B $5B $0

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