Priority Open Recommendations: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Fast Facts
Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help improve the federal government. We alert department heads to the recommendations that can save the most money, address issues on our High Risk List, or significantly improve government operations.
This report outlines 1 priority open recommendation for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as of April 2021. FDIC should work with other banking regulators to communicate appropriate uses of alternative data in credit underwriting.
Since our previous letter in April 2020, FDIC implemented 2 of our 3 priority recommendations.
Highlights
What GAO Found
In April 2020, GAO identified three priority recommendations for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Since then, FDIC has implemented two of those recommendations.
As of April 2021, the remaining open priority recommendation for FDIC involves the following area:
- Collaborating with other financial regulators to communicate with banks that have third-party relationships with financial technology lenders about using alternative data in underwriting.
FDIC's continued attention to this issue could improve its ability to more effectively oversee risks to consumers and the safety and soundness of the U.S. banking system. We are not adding any additional priority recommendations this year.
Why GAO Did This Study
Priority open recommendations are GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional or executive branch decision-making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015 GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations.
For more information, contact Daniel Garcia-Diaz at 202-512-8678 or garciadiazd@gao.gov.