Nah then it would simply be fraud, as they'd be misrepresenting the service offered for the premiums. Of course if the government required FDIC to charter most

Nah then it would simply be fraud, as they'd be misrepresenting the service offered for the premiums. Of course if the government required FDIC to charter most retail banks, and you had to have a bank account to say not have all your cash stolen by crooked cops by the side of the road in civil forfeiture, then It'd look a lot more like a public good supported by an indirect tax on the return on your deposit. Which isn't far from the truth.