Depository Institutions Deregulation Committee – DIDC

Prior to the 2008 banking crisis, history recalls the Great Depression. However, another banking disaster that is sometimes forgotten is the 1980s Savings and Loan crisis. Signed by then President Jimmy Carter as a response to hyperinflation and oil price extortion from OPEC, the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act was legislated to deregulate interest rate caps that had been in place for banks since the Depression.

The inflation rates had overtaken prevailing interest rates, and withdrawals were outpacing deposits, risking bank insolvency. The Depository Institutions Deregulation Committee (DIDC) was a six member committee tasked with phasing out the rate caps. The six members were:

1) Secretary of the Treasury
2) Chairman of the FDIC
3) Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
4) Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board
5) Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration Board
6) Comptroller of the Currency (non-voting)

Other than as a historical footnote, the DIDC has about as much informational significance to most people today as the identity of the NFL Rushing champion of 1980.

In fact, it was Earl Campbell of the Houston Oilers. There. Now you know.