Early Bank Regulations and Their Effectiveness

• Banks are required to obtain a charter from either the state or the federal government. All banks, however, are regulated by three federal agencies: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC); the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), which is controlled by the Federal Reserve; and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
  
  These federal agencies were put in place to protect depositors. The FDIC, which insures bank deposits, came into existence in 1933 and was created by the Glass-Steagall Act. The FDIC was intended to instill faith back into the banking system by insuring deposits. However, in 1933, approximately 4,000 banks failed. Thousands more banks failed after the FDIC was implemented, with over 9,000 banks failing in the 1930s.