History of MSIC

In 1961, Governor John Volpe signed into law the Share Insurance Bill, creating MSIC. MSIC began as an industry sponsored cooperative insurer, owned by its members. When created, MSIC was the first company in the nation to offer deposit insurance to credit unions. At this time, MSIC was the sole insurer of credit union deposits in Massachusetts.

In 1986, MSIC filed legislation to allow federal credit unions to join the fund. Many of MSIC’s current federal membership became members at this time.

MSIC played a critical role in Massachusetts during the banking crisis of the late eighties and early nineties. It provided several Massachusetts based credit unions with the required capital to obtain federal insurance, allowing them to continue to operate independently rather than being merged or liquidated.

To meet this crisis, MSIC invested six million dollars in its member credit unions. In addition, MSIC provided the needed staff at critical times throughout the crisis. MSIC paid members/depositors of Massachusetts Credit Unions over $49,000,000 and no one in the Commonwealth lost, or was denied access to their savings.

During the banking crisis, Massachusetts credit unions converted to federal insurance, and MSIC converted to being solely an excess deposit insurer. As an excess insurer, MSIC now insures deposits in 81 credit unions across Massachusetts. MSIC currently insures just under a billion dollars of credit union member’s deposits.