Basic Information

The Deposit Insurance Fund was established on the basis of Act No. 156/1994 Coll., amending and supplementing Act No. 21/1992 Coll., on Banks, as amended, supplementing Act No. 513/1991 Coll., the Commercial Code, as amended, and Act No. 328/1991 Coll., on Bankruptcy and Composition, which took effect on 29 July 1994.

The Deposit Insurance Fund was established in 1994 pursuant to the Act on Banks. All of the deposits of natural persons (individuals) as well as legal entities that are kept at insured institutions in Czech crowns or in foreign currencies, including interest, are insured. Insurance coverage applies, in particular, to the credit balances of current, term, or deposit accounts and passbooks, and deposits confirmed by a deposit certificate, deposit sheet, or a similar document. The DIF provides compensation for receivables from deposits at banks, building societies, and cooperative savings banks based in the Czech Republic for 100% of the deposit, but to a maximum of EUR 100,000 per client per bank. Clients' deposits in the branches of foreign banks, whose parent company is based in a European Union country, are insured in the deposit insurance system active in the country of the parent company's seat.

Since its establishment, the Deposit Insurance Fund has disbursed compensation for insured deposits in sixteen cases, paying out an aggregate of approximately CZK 25 billion in the form of twelve regular and four additional disbursements. The Fund is managed by a five-member Board of Directors, appointed and recalled by the Minister of Finance.

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