would be difficult for our national economy to sustain continued growth. ... Securities brokers support the proper functioning of these markets by maintaining a constant flow of debt and equity instruments. The continued financial wellbeing of the economy thus depends, in part, on public willingness to entrust assets to the securities industry. Functions The SIPC serves two primary roles in the event that a broker-dealer fails. First, the SIPC acts to organize the distribution of customer cash and securities to investors. Second, to the extent a customer's cash and/or securities are unavailable, the SIPC can pay the customer (via its trustee) up to $500,000 for missing equity, including up to $250,000 for missing cash. In most cases where a brokerage firm has failed or is on the brink of failure, SIPC first seeks to transfer customer accounts to another brokerage firm. Should that process fail, the insolvent firm will be liquidated. In order to state a claim, the investor is required to show that their economic loss arose because of the insolvency of their broker-dealer and not because of fraud, misrepresentation, or bad investment decisions. In certain circumstances, securities or cash may not exist in full based upon a customer's statement. In this case, protection is also extended to investors whose "securities may have been lost, improperly hypothecated, misappropriated, never purchased, or even stolen". While customers' cash and most types of securities - such as notes, stocks, bonds and certificates of deposit - are protected, other items such as commodity or futures contracts are not covered. Investment contracts, certificates of interest, participations in profit-sharing agreements, and oil, gas, or mineral royalties or leases are not covered unless registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Organization SIPC is led by seven directors, five appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, one by the United States Department of the Treasury, and one by the Federal Reserve. Directors serve terms of 3 years. In 2017, the total compensation and benefits of its 39 employees was $11 million. Caveats and clarifications Although modeled loosely on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which protects bank customers, the SIPC has wider discretion in satisfying customer claims. When securities are missing, it can arrange to provide either replacement securities of the same kind, or their cash value on the date that its trustee was appointed to