Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA)

Northern Hancock Bank & Trust has been approved by the State Bar Association of West Virginia to offer the IOLTA program.

• $100 minimum opening balance

FDIC Board Approved Final Rule on IOLTAs

The FDIC Board approved a final rule amending agency deposit insurance regulations to include Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts — or IOLTAs — in the temporary unlimited coverage for noninterest-bearing transaction accounts. The coverage — mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act — did not originally include IOLTAs until Congress passed an ABA-backed bill (H.R. 6398) that President Obama signed into law on December 29, 2010.

Under the final rule, all funds held in IOLTA accounts, together with all other noninterest-bearing transaction account deposits, are fully insured without limit from Dec. 31, 2010, through Dec. 31, 2012. This coverage is separate from — and in addition to — the coverage provided to depositors for other accounts at insured depository institutions, the FDIC said.