Banks and brokerages say "insured to $100,000" by the FDIC. Is there other insurance that banks take out?

Question

My guess is there must be more insurance because many people have more than 100,000. Is this private insurance....not required by the government?

Answer 1

What the FDIC does is insure each deposit up to $100,000. If you have more than that in the account and the bank folds, you'll only get $100,000 - you lose the rest. Brokerages have the SIPC - Securities Investors Protection Corporation and they insure each account up to $250,000.