ABSTRACT
The crises in the state deposit insurance systems in Ohio and Maryland, which involved the first runs by retail depositors since the 1930s, loomed large on the financial landscape in 1985. A similar problem occurred in Rhode Island in January 1991. At this time Rhode Island’s governor ordered credit unions and small banks closed because of the bankruptcy of their private insurer, the Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corporation. This crisis disrupted the state, and the financial affairs of depositors were thrown into turmoil. Yet at the same time one of the largest banks in the country, the Bank of New England, was being closed by bank regulators, and by 1991 Rhode Island’s disturbance seemed relatively minor compared to the monumental events that had shaken the financial system in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
