• The Emergency Banking Act of 1933 was a legislative response to bank failures during the Great Depression and public distrust in the US financial system.

  • The law, which temporarily closed banks for four days for review, immediately boosted confidence in banks and gave a boost to the stock market.
  • Many of its key provisions have survived to this day, in particular the insurance of bank accounts by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the executive powers that it gave the president to respond to financial crises.