I have a Bank of America checking account, which is FDIC backed, which means all my money there is safe even BOA going under, FDIC will pay me back. I also have a BOA investment account, it is not backed by FDIC, but backed by SPIC. For example, I have 100 share of IBM in my investment account bought at $100. Suppose BOA going under and IBM is 50 a share, then SPIC make sure I still own 100 shares of IBM, EVEN I lost half of values, SPIC doesn't care. SPIC will destinate another party to take BOA over when BOA going under, I can get 100 shares of IBM from that party. So in short, your money in one back can be backed by FDIC or SPIC, and they are quite different.
