By Pete Schroeder

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Several employees were fired from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Monday evening, as the Trump administration continued its broader efforts to shrink the federal workforce.

Staff at the FDIC, which monitors banks nationwide and backstops bank deposits via its insurance fund, were notified Tuesday morning of the firings. In an email seen by Reuters, staff were told the agency had "separated certain probationary employees."

Exactly how many employees were fired was unclear, but a website maintained by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) says there were over 500 employees at the agency who had been there for less than one year.

Typically, probationary employees in the federal government have been there for one or two years, and enjoy fewer protections than longer-term workers.

A spokesperson for the FDIC declined to comment. Bloomberg Law first reported the firings.

The FDIC firings mark the latest in a sweeping effort across the federal government, as thousands of new hires have been fired by the Trump administration as part of an effort to radically cut back U.S. bureaucracy.

The cuts at the roughly 6,000-person agency come despite warnings the watchdog is already facing staffing challenges. An agency review of the 2023 failure of Signature Bank, one of several bank failures that spring, found staff devoted to monitoring the bank experienced "frequent vacancies and continuous turnover" leading up to its collapse.

Relatedly, the FDIC's inspector general warned in a 2024 report that 36% of the agency's workforce would be eligible for retirement in 2027, higher than average rates across the government.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder)

((Pete.Schroeder@thomsonreuters.com; 202-310-5485;))