InfoBytes Blog
FDIC Releases 2016 Annual Report; Separately, FDIC’s OIG Issues Report Critical of Bank Service Provider Contracts
On February 15, the FDIC released its 2016 Annual Report–which includes, among other things, the audited financial statements of the Deposit Insurance Fund and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) Resolution Fund. The report also provides an overview of key FDIC initiatives, performance results and other aspects of FDIC operations.
Separately, on the same day, the FDIC’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released an Audit Report (EVAL-17-004) on the adequacy of a small but random sample of contracts between FDIC-supervised institutions and their technology service providers (TSPs), in light of federal law and banking agency guidance on customer privacy-protection and how to properly manage third-party relationships. All sampled contracts had been designated as “critical” or “high” risk to the supervised institutions’ operations. The OIG specifically evaluated, and generally found insufficient, the clarity of contract provisions on TSP obligations regarding: (i) business continuity planning; and (ii) responding to and reporting on cybersecurity incidents. Despite the insufficiencies noted, the OIG acknowledged that because many contracts were negotiated before some of the relevant guidance was issued, “more time is needed to allow FDIC and FFIEC efforts to have a demonstrable” impact on contractual language.
As a result of these findings, the OIG recommended—and FDIC management agreed—that the agency, after allowing appropriate time for current guidance to be implemented, conduct a “full horizontal review to assess” any continued presence of the contractual insufficiencies noted in the report. The FDIC will “prepare” that horizontal review in 2018.