Deposit Guarantee Schemes

Deposit Guarantee Schemes for Foreign Banks

For private banks in Germany (i.e. institutions which are neither savings banks nor cooperative banks), there is a co-existence of a statutory and a voluntary deposit guarantee scheme. Hereinafter, the protection of deposits by the following two schemes will be briefly outlined:

  1. The statutory deposit guarantee scheme run by the EdB (deposit protection scheme of German banks – “EdB compensation scheme”) and
  2. The additional voluntary private guarantee scheme “Deposit Protection Fund“ of the Association of German Banks (BdB).

The statutory deposit guarantee scheme

The statutory deposit guarantee scheme is set up and regulated under the German Deposit Guarantee Act (EinSiG) and the Investor Compensation Act (AnlEntG). The German Deposit Guarantee Act applies to all the banks incorporated in Germany, including subsidiaries of foreign banks. Pursuant to this Act, deposits of retail clients, partnerships and corporations are guaranteed up to the amount of € 100,000 per depositor. Deposits held in Euro or other currencies are eligible for this scheme.

German branches of foreign banks domiciled outside the EEA [1] are subject to the German statutory deposit protection, just as German banks. As a consequence, deposits up to the amount of € 100,000 are also covered by the scheme.

German branches of European banks domiciled in the EEA are not covered by the German statutory deposit protection, but under the respective scheme established in their home state. Due to the harmonised European law, their home state protection corresponds with the protection in Germany, namely € 100,000. Therefore, as a general rule, clients of German branches of European banks benefit from the same level of protection as clients of German banks.

Any foreign bank in Germany – irrespective of its set-up as EEA-branch, third country branch or subsidiary – is required under the German Banking Act (KWG) to inform its clients about the guarantee scheme it belongs to using an information sheet as well as to provide appropriate information on account statements

The voluntary deposit guarantee scheme

In addition to the statutory deposit guarantee scheme, German banks as well as subsidiaries and branches of foreign banks in Germany have the possibility to participate in the voluntary private Deposit Protection Fund of the BdB. Most foreign banks in Germany taking deposits are indeed members of the German voluntary Deposit Protection Fund.

The Deposit Protection Fund is a second line of defence in addition to the statutory deposit protection schemes. Deposits which are not compensated by the statutory scheme in Germany or – in the case of branches of European banks – deposits exceeding the coverage level of the statutory scheme of the respective European home Member State are protected up to the coverage level of the voluntary Deposit Protection Fund. This coverage level is significantly higher than the one offered by the statutory schemes. Additional information is available at https://bankenverband.de/ueber-uns/einlagensicherung/.

[1] Member States of the EEA are all 27 Member States of the European Union as well as Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway.

The Association of Foreign Banks in Germany

Weißfrauenstr. 12-16
60311 Frankfurt am Main
+49 69 975850 0
+49 69 975850 10