About deposit insurance and its history

The Deposit Insurance Fund was established in 1994 (pursuant to Act No 156/1994 Coll.) to provide stability on the financial market and to institutionally cover the newly established deposit insurance system, the need for which was subsequently more than confirmed. The main responsibilities of the Deposit Insurance Fund ranged from the collection of contributions and their management to the payout of deposit compensation when needed. These responsibilities were taken over by the Guarantee System on 1st January 2016 and the Deposit Insurance Fund became an independent accounting unit of the Guarantee System.

All banks, building savings banks, and cooperative credit unions with their registered office in the Czech Republic and branches of banks with their registered office outside EU are obliged by law to contribute to the Deposit Insurance Fund (list of the contributing institutions).

If the Czech National Bank announces that any of these institutions is unable to meet its commitments, or a court decides on the bankruptcy of such a financial institution, the Guarantee System pays 100% of the deposits, including interest, from the Deposit Insurance Fund to all natural persons and legal entities, up to the equivalent of EUR 100,000. In addition, the new legislation enables clients to be granted even higher compensation in specific cases. The payout of the basic compensation (up to EUR 100,000) must be commenced within 7 business days from the record date.

More detailed information about deposit insurance can be found on the pages: Insured Deposits, Insured Institutions and Compensation Amount.

History of the Deposit Insurance Fund

During its existence, the Deposit Insurance Fund paid out compensation for insured deposits in 24 cases in the form of 20 regular and 4 additional compensation payments to the depositors of 14 banks and 6 cooperative credit unions, paying out an aggregate of approximately CZK 71.08 billion. In total, the Fund paid compensation to more than 440,000 clients.

Milestones

Milestones can be found here.