Deposit Guaranteeing in the EU: Taking Stock (cepInput)

"The institution has been discussed for years without any significant progress. Although an EU directive from 2014 is supposed to bring about alignment, the differences between the national deposit insurance systems in Germany, France and Italy are considerable," says cep economist Bert Van Roosebeke.

According to the expert of the Freiburg-based think tank, this applies not only to the institutional set-up of the systems, but also to the financial resources, the temporarily increased coverage amounts or the alternative use of financial resources. The EU directive requires a financial endowment of 0.8% of covered deposits by July 2024. According to the cep's stocktaking, the deposit guarantee scheme of the Italian private banks, at 0.23%, is still far from that. France is at 0.37 per cent. In Germany, the private banks reach 0.52 per cent.

"The discussion about a common deposit guarantee scheme is likely to intensify this year," says Van Roosebeke. The cep expert calls for the existing differences to be taken into account in the possible establishment of a common deposit guarantee scheme.