FDIC Plans to Hit Big Banks With Fees to Refill Insurance Fund

The US is poised to exempt smaller lenders from kicking in extra money to replenish the government’s bedrock deposit insurance fund, and instead saddle the biggest banks with much of the bill.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is planning to release as soon as next week a highly anticipated proposal for refilling its Deposit Insurance Fund, which was partly depleted by the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, according to people familiar with the matter.

Smaller lenders with less than $10 billion in assets wouldn’t have to pay, said the people, who weren’t authorized to discuss the ...