Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will ask Congress for permission to increase deposit insurance limits, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said in a memorandum to members of his panel.

``Sheila Bair, chairman of the FDIC, notified me that they will be requesting authority to increase deposit insurance limits. We will provide additional details as we have them,'' Frank said in the memo.

The FDIC currently provides $100,000 of insurance for individual bank deposits. The memo didn't specify what new level was being requested by the agency.

New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, the chief negotiator for Senate Republicans on the bailout bill, said he was willing to consider proposals to expand the FDIC's role as well as raising the size of bank accounts the agency insures to $250,000. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, and John McCain, the Republican nominee, also back raising the level to $250,000.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dawn Kopecki in Washington D.C. at dkopecki@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 30, 2008 14:19 EDT