*

FDIC says Capital One underpaid by $99.4 million

*

Capital One says FDIC inflated assessment by $149.2

million

*

Banks help FDIC replenish deposit insurance fund

*

Capital One had no immediate comment

By Jonathan Stempel

Nov 18 (Reuters) - The Federal Deposit Insurance

Corporation filed a lawsuit accusing Capital One of

paying nearly $100 million less than it should have to help bail

out depositors of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank ( SBNY ), which

both collapsed in 2023.

Capital One was sued on Monday night in the federal court in

Alexandria, Virginia, two months after the sixth-largest U.S.

commercial bank filed its own lawsuit accusing the FDIC of

trying to charge $149.2 million too much.

At issue is whether Capital One underreported its uninsured

deposits by excluding a $56 billion position between two

subsidiaries from regulatory reports describing the McLean,

Virginia-based bank's financial health.

The FDIC uses deposit data when calculating special

assessments it charges banks to recoup losses to its deposit

insurance fund when banks fail.

Capital One had no immediate comment on Tuesday. The FDIC

did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In its countersuit, the FDIC said that excluding the $56

billion position led Capital One to calculate a $324.84 million

special assessment for the two bank failures, not the correct

$474.08 million amount. About $99.4 million remains unpaid, the

FDIC said.

"There are no time machines when it comes to special

assessments, and the subsidiary's funds were deposits held at

the bank for which the subsidiary already received the benefit

of FDIC deposit insurance," the FDIC said.

Capital One estimated in July it may need to set aside an

additional $200 million for the matter.

The FDIC seized Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank ( SBNY ) in March

2023, and estimated last June it would recover $18.6 billion

from 111 banks through special assessments.

Banks with less than $5 billion of assets are not charged.

The FDIC provides deposit insurance to 4,376 banks and savings

associations.

In January, the FDIC sued 17 former Silicon Valley Bank

executives and directors in the San Jose, California federal

court, seeking billions of dollars for alleged gross negligence

and breaches of fiduciary duty. That case remains pending.