FDIC-insured banks must show the agency’s official digital sign on their websites and apps by April 1, 2027, under a final rule the FDIC announced in Financial Institution Letter FIL-3-2026. The rule took effect March 2, 2026, but banks have until the April 2027 compliance date to put the sign in place. It also trims where the sign has to appear.
For anyone who banks online, the change means the sign that marks an account as federally insured will show up in a predictable place on a bank’s digital channels, though not for another five months. Banks have until April 1, 2027 to comply, so a bank screen without the sign today is not proof of anything about the bank’s insured status.
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Where does the sign have to appear?
The rule applies to every FDIC-insured financial institution, the letter says, and it amends the agency’s signage requirements for digital deposit-taking channels, ATMs and similar devices. The FDIC says it was responding to implementation questions that came up after the 2023 version took shape.
The rule, published in the Federal Register on Jan. 29, 2026 as 91 FR 3801, names three places on digital channels. The official digital sign must be displayed clearly, continuously and conspicuously on the initial page or homepage of a website or app, on the login page, and on the page or screen where a consumer first starts opening a deposit account.
The login requirement applies to mobile apps as well as websites. In other words, a depositor who opens a bank’s app and reaches the sign-in screen should see the sign there once the compliance date passes.
Before this rule, the sign was tied to a wider set of pages. The Federal Register notice says it is no longer required on every page where a customer can transact with deposits, which is the main simplification for banks.
Why did the date keep moving?
The FDIC first adopted the signage requirements on Dec. 20, 2023, and they were published at 89 FR 3504 in January 2024. According to the Federal Register notice, compliance was delayed in October 2024, and the digital and ATM provisions were delayed again in March 2025.
On Nov. 25, 2025, the agency extended the date for the ATM and digital sections to Jan. 1, 2027. The final rule replaces that date with April 1, 2027. The FDIC says the rule itself takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, which put the effective date at March 2, 2026, so the 13 months in between are a grace period for building the changes into websites, apps and machines. The FDIC’s announcement of the board’s approval describes the change as aimed at simplifying compliance for banks and giving them more flexibility in designing the digital sign.
What changes at the ATM?
At ATMs and similar devices, the digital sign is required only on the initial screen, meaning the screen shown before a customer starts a transaction. Screen savers and advertisements on an idle machine do not count, according to the Federal Register notice.
Devices placed in service on or before April 1, 2027 may display the physical FDIC sign instead. So may devices placed in service later that do not let customers transact in non-deposit products. Non-deposit signage, the notice that a product is not insured, is needed only for the bank’s own customers and appears on the first screen of a non-deposit transaction.
Can banks change how the sign looks?
The FDIC’s letter says banks may vary the color, font and text size of the official digital sign. The same letter says the one-time notice about a third party’s non-deposit product may disappear automatically after three seconds. Both changes give banks more room in how screens are designed, which is the flexibility the board’s announcement refers to.
Non-deposit signage, the label that tells a customer a product such as an investment is not FDIC-insured, gets a narrower reach too. The letter says a bank needs it only on pages primarily dedicated to advertising or providing information about, or access to, non-deposit products.
The agency lists a staff contact for questions from banks: Monika Jansen, a senior policy analyst in the FDIC’s Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection, at (202) 898-6781, along with several colleagues in the division.
What should depositors do before April 2027?
The sign is a notice about FDIC membership, and the free way to confirm coverage is through the FDIC itself. The agency’s deposit insurance page says the standard insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category, and lists 1-877-ASK-FDIC for questions.
A customer who wants to be sure a bank is insured does not have to wait for the screen to say so. The same call number, 1-877-ASK-FDIC, goes to the FDIC Information and Support Center, which also takes inquiries and complaints.
The sign tells a depositor where insured deposits are. It does not lock a login or stop anyone from getting into an account. Those protections come from steps a depositor takes at the bank and the credit bureaus, such as two-step login and account alerts.
Is the login to your bank app locked down?
The new sign will sit on the login screen of every insured bank’s app, but it does nothing for the login itself. An account that a scammer reaches through a stolen password or a phone call is a loss the sign was never meant to prevent.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
