Around 500 employees at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., or about 8% of its workforce, have accepted the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer, as the banking regulator prepares for a broader overhaul.
The FDIC “will be smaller” when the Trump administration finishes restructuring the agency, acting Chairman Travis Hill said at an all-hands staff meeting Friday, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The Office of Personnel Management gave federal agencies until March 11 to present plans to cut their workforces, Hill said at the staff meeting, according to an FDIC spokesperson.
The spokesperson confirmed the number of staff members accepting the “buyout” offer, which allows them to leave work in February but stay on the federal payroll through the end of September.
The FDIC spokesperson didn’t have a breakdown of who will be departing or which divisions they worked in.
A federal judge on Feb. 12 allowed Trump’s deferred resignation program to move forward.
The OPM in January sent what has become known as the “fork in the road” email to workers across the federal government, mirroring an offer Elon Musk made to employees at Twitter shortly after buying the social media company. The program is part of the Trump administration’s plan to slash the federal workforce.
Around 75,000 of the federal government’s 2.4 million-strong civilian workforce took the buyout offer ahead of a deadline this week, according to the OPM.
Examiner Shortage
The drop in FDIC employees comes after the 2023 collapses of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank exposed a shortage of agency bank examiners.
A February 2023 report from the agency’s inspector general found that 38% of the FDIC’s employees would be eligible for retirement by 2027.
“Absent effective human capital management, the FDIC may lose valuable knowledge and leadership skill sets upon the departure of experienced examiners, managers, and executives,” the report said.
Most FDIC employees who took the deferred resignation offer were either close to retirement or were concerned about return-to-office policies since many are bank examiners working remotely, sources familiar with the matter said.
Federal employees had until 7:20 pm on Feb. 12 to accept the offer. Those who didn’t are subject to potential termination.
Other banking regulators are also facing significant staffing cuts. The National Treasury Employees Union said in a Thursday court filing that they expect the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to fire up to 95% of the agency’s workforce.
Hill also addressed reports that the Trump administration is planning to restructure financial regulators, sources said. One idea under consideration would eliminate the FDIC while sending some of its employees to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and to the agency’s Deposit Insurance Fund inside the Treasury Department, The Wall Street Journal reported.
A new administration considering changes to financial regulators wasn’t out of the ordinary, Hill said in a bid to reassure younger employees, according to the sources.
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