Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF)

What is ‘Savings Association Insurance Fund – SAIF’

A government insurance fund for savings and loans and thrift institutions in the United States that protects depositors from losses due to institutional failure. The Savings Association Insurance Fund was created in the aftermath of the savings and loan crisis in the 1980s, during which poor real estate investments shut down many of America’s savings and loan institutions. The SAIF was to provide similar coverage as the FDIC did for bank accounts, and was run by the FDIC until 2006.

Explaining ‘Savings Association Insurance Fund – SAIF’

The Savings Association Insurance Fund replaced the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, which became insolvent during the 1980s. The insurance fund was merged with another one of the FDIC’s administered funds, the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF), after the passage of the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005.

Further Reading

  • Debt maturity and the deadweight cost of leverage: Optimally financing banking firms – www.jstor.org [PDF]
  • Merging the Bif and the Saif: Would a Merger Improve the Fund's Viablity? – papers.ssrn.com [PDF]
  • The Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 – heinonline.org [PDF]
  • Playing with firrea, not getting burned: Statutory overview of the financial institutions reform, recovery and enforcement act of 1989 – heinonline.org [PDF]
  • Bank Branching By Acquistions of Savings and Loan Associations – heinonline.org [PDF]
  • Seeing the light: savings association conversions and federal regulatory realignment – heinonline.org [PDF]