The Emergency Banking Act of 1933 was a bill passed in the midst of the Great Depression that took steps to stabilize and restore confidence in the U.S. banking system. The act created a national bank holiday, which closed all banks so that examiners could determine which were solvent and needed assistance, and those that were not would be liquidated.The act also provided for federal deposit insurance to protect depositors’ money in case their bank failed, as well as authorized the president to issue regulations governing banking practices. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Banking Act into law on March 9, 1933, just days after taking office during a time when Americans’ faith in banks was at an all-time low.
