Directive 2014/ 49/EU

Deposit guarantee schemes (DGSs) are an essential counterpart to the prudential supervision of credit institutions, such as banks, in creating solidarity between all the institutions operating in the same financial market in the event that one of them fails. GDSD 2014 replaces the pre-existing Directive 94/19/EC (effective July 4th 2015).

Each EU country must introduce laws to ensure that; at least one DGS is set up on their territory and that all banks are required to join them. These must be financed by the banks themselves, not taxpayers.

What’s covered?

• All deposits held by individuals and companies, regardless of size
• Deposits in non-EU currencies
Deposits of financial institutions and authorities are NOT covered.

What else should I know?

• Repayment deadlines will be cut from the current 20 working days to 7.
• Contributions to DGSs will reflect individual banks’ risk profiles, thus riskier banks will be obligated to pay more.
• Banks must provide account holders with depositor protection information on an annual basis.

DGSD Full Text

Banking entities in EU member nations.

By 3 July 2024, the available financial means of a DGS reaches least 0.8 % of the amount of the covered deposits of its members (or about €55 billion), to be paid by member banks. In principle, DGS funds are to be used to reimburse depositors after a bank failure.