According to standards, it should be easy to answer how much money a bank has and how much of it is insured. However, this seems to be difficult for some US banks. For example, Provident Bank in New Jersey reported that their uninsured deposits decreased from $5 billion to $3.1 billion on June 13, but then increased to $4.9 billion on July 14, and further increased to $5.3 billion on July 28.

The motivation behind this manipulation is clear – the smaller the percentage of uninsured deposits, the lower the risk of a bank run and financial expenses. The FDIC has warned banks against changing deposit data without insurance coverage. This raises concerns about the capability of their information systems and the overall risk it poses.