Deposit Protection
The purpose of deposit protection is to grant coverage for unavailable deposits with banks, that are due according to the statutory and contractual conditions applicable to them, but whose repayment cannot be made as a result of circumstances related to the financial situation of the bank (bankruptcy) or for other statutory reasons.
Deposits are all kinds of account balances as well as call money and time deposits (accrued interests are included).
If the so-called "payout event" occurs at a Liechtenstein bank (that is in an pre-existing contractual relationship with EAS) due to an insolvency, a prohibition on disbursements or a bankruptcy as referred to Article 7 EAG, the EAS bank cell reimburses the client for duly reviewed repayment claims in the amount of his covered deposits within the statutory time limit.
Protected are account balances of private or corporate clients as well as foundations up to a maximum of CHF 100,000.00 per person or the equivalent of this amount in another currency. If a client has several accounts with a bank or if, in addition to his own account, he also owns a share in a joint account, the cap does not apply to each account individually but to all his accounts on a consolidated basis.
Further answers to your questions are available in our leaflet or in the frequently asked questions (FAQ).
Depositor Information Sheet under Article 30(3) EAG
Deposit guarantee fund
Payout events are funded through a combination of pre-financed (ex ante) and occasion-related (ex post) contributions of banks. The following figure on illustrates the instruments at the disposal of EAS by law for funding of the deposit guarentee scheme.
The deposit guarantee fund is to reach the legally required target level of 0.5% of the covered deposits of all affiliated banks by the end of 2028. The adequacy of the target level is assessed annually on the basis of the notifications of covered deposits submitted by the banks as at 31 December and adjusted if required. The target level of the deposit guarantee fund currently amounts to CHF 31 million.
The fund is augmented annually by all affiliated banks through risk-based contributions (ex ante). Each bank must make a minimum annual contribution of CHF 5,000.00.
In the payout event, additional special contributions (ex post) may be levied. The payment capacity of the banks is ensured by the obligation to maintain liquid assets on a permanent basis in the amount of the largest possible payout event.
The contribution calculation method used follows the EBA Guidelines on methods for calculating contributions to deposit guarantee schemes (EBA/GL/2023/02) taking into account the individual risk positions of banks on the basis of ten risk indicators, which are assigned different weights and consolidated into an aggregate risk score. The contribution to be collected is calculated from the sum of the covered deposits multiplied by the individual risk score and an adjustment factor in order to be able to finance the annual target amount.
Further information on the financing of the deposit guarantee scheme and the method of calculating contributions can be found in the frequently asked questions or in our presentation.