NEW YORK - THE head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said on Sunday the vast majority of United States banks are safe, moving to quell any concerns bank customers may have after regulators seized IndyMac Bancorp, once one of the largest US mortgage lenders.

'All bank depositors should understand that their insured deposits are safe,' Chairman Sheila Bair said. 'The chance that your own bank will be taken over by the FDIC is extremely remote. And if that does happen, you will continue to have virtually uninterrupted access to your insured deposits.'

'No bank depositor has ever lost a penny of insured deposits,' she added. 'The overwhelming majority of banks in this country are safe and sound.'

IndyMac was seized on Friday after a bank run in which customers withdrew US$1.3 billion (S$1.8 billion) of deposits over 11 business days, regulators said.

These withdrawals followed June 26 comments by US Senator Charles Schumer questioning IndyMac's survival prospects. They continued after IndyMac said on July 7 it would fire half its workforce and stop most mortgage lending.

Ms Bair said she issued her statement after seeing reports on IndyMac that could cause unnecessary worry among bank depositors nationwide.

The FDIC insures deposits at 8,494 banks and thrifts. It typically insures deposits up to US$100,000 per institution, and up to US$250,000 on some retirement accounts.

More than 200,000 IndyMac customers had roughly US$18 billion of fully-insured deposits, the FDIC said. About 10,000 customers had roughly US$1 billion of potentially uninsured deposits.

The agency will reopen IndyMac's banking unit on Monday as IndyMac Federal Bank FSB. -- REUTERS