Ill a Survey of Deposit Insurance Practices

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Ill a Survey of Deposit Insurance Practices Ill A Survey of Deposit Insurance Practices recent survey of 85 different systems of deposit The survey, whose results are presented in the Sta- Aprotection found that of the 85, 67 countries of- tistical Appendix tables, will be used to throw some fered an explicit, limited deposit insurance system in light on common practices. Later, the survey will normal times (see Table A1 of the Statistical Appen- also be used to examine the extent to which good dix).46 They are the focus of the survey that follows.47 practices have been adopted, and where they have As Table 2 shows, four of the surveyed countries are been disregarded.50 It finds that countries are in- in Africa, 10 are in Asia, 32 are in Europe, four are in creasingly adopting provisions that temper incentive the Middle East, and 17 are in the Americas. problems, but certain deficiencies remain in some instances. Year of Origin of Limited Deposit Insurance Systems The Deposit Insurance Agency: Role and Responsibilities Although two of the three systems in the United States (one for commercial banks and the second for There are basically two models for the role and re- savings associations) were started in the 1930s, it was sponsibilities of a deposit insurance agency. Under a not until the 1960s that other countries began to adopt narrow construction, the deposit insurance system's the deposit insurance systems that are still in exis- 48 obligation is to pay depositors of failed banks when tence. Eight schemes were initiated in the 1960s, and instructed to do so by the appropriate authority, nine in the 1970s. As the incidence of banking crises which is frequently the bank supervisor, and to ac- escalated in the 1980s, 19 schemes were initiated quire the funds by collecting premiums and building during the decade. Thirty new limited systems com- a fund or by imposing ex post assessments. The de- menced during the 1990s, as banking problems con- posit insurance agency in 34 countries plays such a tinued to escalate on all continents. (See Figure 2). narrow role. The alternative model for the agency is Revisions to deposit insurance systems have been much more comprehensive. The agency takes charge quite common, especially since the European Union of failed banks and resolves them according to the Directive in 1994.49 country's laws. The deposit insurance agency in 33 countries carries a broad range of responsibilities 46 that often includes anticipating bank problems and Seventy-two countries had systems that were explicitly de- resolving failed banks. The narrow construction fined in law and/or regulation. Full coverage was being offered in Spring 2000 in 10 of these countries. In seven of the full-coverage dominates in Europe, but broader responsibilities are cases, comprehensive coverage replaces systems that have limited common in Asia and the Western Hemisphere. scope in normal times. Six African countries that have not fully Moreover, a number of countries have recently ratified their agreement to form a regional insurance system and broadened the role for their agencies or they are con- the system in Panama are excluded from the survey because it ap- sidering enlarging those responsibilities. None is plies the guarantee only to credit cooperatives. Russia is also ex- cluded because of a dearth of information. known to be considering reducing that role. 47The entries in the Tables A1 through A7 of the Statistical Ap- pendix extend and update into the second quarter of 2000 the survey results presented in Garcia (1999), which were exhaustively re- Membership viewed. Every effort has been made to include new schemes in the tables and to reflect revisions that have been made to existing schemes. The author requests the reader's forgiveness if any Table A1 of the Statistical Appendix shows that, to changes have been missed, because changes are frequent at present. avoid the problem of adverse selection, 62 of the 48Some states within the United States began a deposit insur- ance system earlier, as did the former Czechoslovakia. 49In addition to the revisions included in the Statistical Appendix, 50Issues relating to prompt corrective action, failure resolution, the United Kingdom expected to revise its system before long. and speed of depositor compensation were not surveyed. ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution Ill A SURVEY OF DEPOSIT INSURANCE PRACTICES Table 2. Countries with Explicit, Limited Deposit Insurance Systems Africa Asia Europe Middle East Western Hemisphere (4) (10) (32) (4) (17) Kenya Bangladesh Austria Latvia Bahrain Argentina Nigeria India Belgium Lithuania Lebanon Barbados Tanzania Japan Bulgaria Luxembourg Morocco Brazil Uganda Kazakhstan Croatia Macedonia Oman Canada Korea Czech Rep. Netherlands Chile Marshall Islands Denmark Norway Colombia Micronesia Estonia Poland Dominican Republic Philippines Finland Portugal Ecuador Sri Lanka France Romania El Salvador Taiwan Province of China Germany Slovak Rep. Guatemala Gibraltar Spain Honduras Greece Sweden Jamaica Hungary Switzerland Mexico Iceland Turkey Peru Ireland Ukraine Trinidad & Tobago Italy United Kingdom United States Venezuela Source: Survey results presented in Table A7 of the Statistical Appendix. premiums as an alternative means to combat adverse Figure 2. Decade of Origination of Explicit selection.52 Deposit Insurance Systems While objectives are not investigated by the sur- (Number of Countries) vey, they can sometimes be inferred from deposit in- surance practices. For example, if the objective of the system is primarily to protect small depositors, a 30 country is likely to include all institutions that are li- censed to accept deposits (particularly, small de- 25 posits) from the public. To reduce unfairness to well- 20 supervised institutions, the country makes an effort to oversee all insured institutions to the same strict 15 standards. But, where a country is more interested in maintaining financial stability, it may confine mem- 10 bership to those classes of institution that it consid- ers to have systemic importance. In this case, mem- 5 bership may be focused principally on commercial banks. There may also be subsidiary insurance 0 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s schemes for smaller, or less systematically important groups of institutions, such as savings associations Source: IMF staff survey. and credit cooperatives. Table A2 of the Statistical Appendix examines these issues and finds that countries typically at- tempt to cover (in one or more insurance system) all systems surveyed are compulsory.51 Nevertheless, institutions that take deposits. Confining coverage to seven schemes are voluntary and three of the volun- licensed commercial banks tends to be the excep- tary schemes (those in the Dominican Republic, Sri tion, not the general rule (column 2, Table A3). Lanka, and Switzerland) do not impose risk-adjusted 52The voluntary system in Sri Lanka began in 1987 by charging 51The sum of the numbers of compulsory and voluntary systems its 13 members a premium of 0.04 percent of deposits. In 1992, exceeds 67 because some countries have more than one deposit the premium was raised to 0.15 percent and two banks withdrew. insurance system. Only seven members currently remain. ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution Funding the Deposit Insurance System Countries typically require the branches and sub- ment to back up a well-run system of deposit insur- sidiaries of foreign banks that are operating (taking ance that is met by unexpected demands on its re- small deposits) within a country to belong to the sys- sources and is in need of additional funds in order to tem (column 3, Table A2). Countries in the European carry out its responsibilities. Consequently, many Union may relax this requirement somewhat by countries make provisions for the government granting exemptions to foreign institutions that are (preferably, but not always through the ministry of covered by their home system of deposit insurance, finance) to assist a depleted fund with loans. While although they may allow them to join if coverage in 66 of the explicit, limited systems have private fund- the host country's system is more generous than the ing, 55 have access to public funding. Some have al- home scheme. Country authorities typically see their ready received financial help from official sources to responsibility to protect their citizens. Thus, they get the system started or to cope with a systemic typically do not insure the deposits that domestic banking crisis; others expect to obtain it when they banks take offshore (column 4, Table A2). The sur- need assistance (column 3, Table A3). To contain vey noted two exceptions to this general practice. moral hazard among bankers, banks must be re- The first covers countries of the European Union, quired to repay their loans, including those from the which often offer coverage to customers of their government. banks anywhere within the European Union. The The Canadian government goes further in requir- second exception is countries that are particularly ing that the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation dependent on foreign deposits and fear the impact of (CDIC) pay a "credit enhancement fee" to the gov- their loss on the domestic financial system. ernment when it borrows funds in the private mar- kets. The rationale is that, as a Crown Corporation, the CDIC can borrow at a lower rate than it would if Funding the Deposit Insurance System it were a private corporation. The fee covers the dif- ference. Thus, when the CDIC borrows it pays a pri- Funding for the system of deposit insurance has to vate market rate. be adequate, and has to be seen by the public to be As mentioned in the discussion of good practices, sufficient, if the system is to succeed in compensat- a reticence to commit public funds would be under- ing depositors and maintaining public confidence. standable where a deposit insurance scheme is pri- To this end, there are a number of issues to be ad- vately run because of potential conflicts of interest.
Recommended publications
  • The Bulgarian Financial Crisis of 1996/1997
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Berlemann, Michael; Nenovsky, Nikolay Working Paper Lending of first versus lending of last resort: The Bulgarian financial crisis of 1996/1997 Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics, No. 11/03 Provided in Cooperation with: Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Business and Economics Suggested Citation: Berlemann, Michael; Nenovsky, Nikolay (2003) : Lending of first versus lending of last resort: The Bulgarian financial crisis of 1996/1997, Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics, No. 11/03, Technische Universität Dresden, Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Dresden This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/48137 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten,
    [Show full text]
  • German Divergence in the Construction of the European Banking Union
    The End of Bilateralism in Europe? An Interest-Based Account of Franco- German Divergence in the Construction of the European Banking Union Honorable Mention, 2019 John Dunlop Thesis Prize Christina Neckermann May 2019 M-RCBG Associate Working Paper Series | No. 119 The views expressed in the M-RCBG Associate Working Paper Series are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government or of Harvard University. The papers in this series have not undergone formal review and approval; they are presented to elicit feedback and to encourage debate on important public policy challenges. Copyright belongs to the author(s). Papers may be downloaded for personal use only. Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government Weil Hall | Harvard Kennedy School | www.hks.harvard.edu/mrcbg The End of Bilateralism in Europe?: An Interest-Based Account of Franco-German Divergence in the Construction of the European Banking Union A thesis presented by Christina Neckermann Presented to the Department of Government in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree with honors Harvard College March 2019 Table of Contents Chapter I: Introduction 3 Statement of question and motivation - 3 Banking Union in the era of postcrisis financial reforms - 6 Outline of content and argument - 11 Chapter II: Theoretical Approach 13 Review of related literature - 13 Proposed theoretical framework - 19 Implications in the present case - 21 Methodology - 26 Chapter III: Overview of National Banking Sectors
    [Show full text]
  • Experiences of the National Deposit Insurance Fund on the Age Composition of Depositors and on the Distribution of Deposit Amounts*
    Financial and Economic Review, Vol. 16 Issue 2., June 2017, pp. 28–39. Experiences of the National Deposit Insurance Fund on the Age Composition of Depositors and on the Distribution of Deposit Amounts* Katalin Csaba-Kalló – Balázs Vajai In the span of two years (2014 and 2015), ten credit institutions were liquidated in Hungary. Depositors were reimbursed by the National Deposit Insurance Fund (NDIF) in the total amount of HUF 219 billion. This is the first time that the depositor database of the liquidated credit institutions is subject to research. The basic features of the compensation data are presented with the assistance of descriptive statistics tools in the dimensions of the paid-out compensation amounts and the age of depositors. We confirm the hypothesis that the paid-out compensation amounts follow an extreme value distribution, more specifically, a Weibull distribution. The distribution shows that above HUF 5 million, the number of reimbursed depositors grew only moderately, while the paid-out compensation amounts increased significantly. Moreover, in making a comparison between the age distribution of reimbursed depositors and the age distribution of the Hungarian population we found that the savings deposited with the liquidated credit institutions are consistent with Modigliani’s life-cycle hypothesis. Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: D14, D18, G21 Keywords: household saving/personal finance, consumer protection, banks 1. Introduction and motivation In 2015, the Hungarian household sector held about 20 per cent of its financial assets (HUF 9,000 billion) in bank deposits and bank bonds (Boldizsár – Koroknai 2016). This substantial volume allotted to bank financing underlines the key significance of deposit insurance as a tool for building and maintaining confidence in the banking sector.
    [Show full text]
  • International Directory of Deposit Insurers
    Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation International Directory of Deposit Insurers September 2015 A listing of addresses of deposit insurers, central banks and other entities involved in deposit insurance functions. Division of Insurance and Research Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Washington, DC 20429 The FDIC wants to acknowledge the cooperation of all the countries listed, without which the directory’s compilation would not have been possible. Please direct any comments or corrections to: Donna Vogel Division of Insurance and Research, FDIC by phone +1 703 254 0937 or by e-mail [email protected] FDIC INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY OF DEPOSIT INSURERS ■ SEPTEMBER 2015 2 Table of Contents AFGHANISTAN ......................................................................................................................................6 ALBANIA ...............................................................................................................................................6 ALGERIA ................................................................................................................................................6 ARGENTINA ..........................................................................................................................................6 ARMENIA ..............................................................................................................................................7 AUSTRALIA ............................................................................................................................................7
    [Show full text]
  • Deposit Insurance and Cross-Border Banks
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics e Azevedo, João Valle; Bonfim, Diana Article Deposit Insurance and Cross-Border Banks ifo DICE Report Provided in Cooperation with: Ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich Suggested Citation: e Azevedo, João Valle; Bonfim, Diana (2019) : Deposit Insurance and Cross-Border Banks, ifo DICE Report, ISSN 2511-7823, ifo Institut – Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung an der Universität München, München, Vol. 17, Iss. 1, pp. 14-20 This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/199053 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die
    [Show full text]
  • Simplification of Deposit Insurance Rules
    41766 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 146 / Tuesday, August 3, 2021 / Proposed Rules will make its own determination about ■ 2. Appendix I to subpart B of part 430 FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE the confidential status of the is amended by: CORPORATION information and treat it according to its ■ a. Adding an introductory note; and determination. 12 CFR Part 330 ■ b. Revising section 2.1.1; It is DOE’s policy that all comments RIN 3064–AF27 may be included in the public docket, The addition and revision read as without change and as received, follows: Simplification of Deposit Insurance including any personal information Rules provided in the comments (except Appendix I to Subpart B of Part 430— information deemed to be exempt from Uniform Test Method for Measuring the AGENCY: Federal Deposit Insurance public disclosure). Energy Consumption of Cooking Corporation. Products ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. VI. Approval of the Office of the Note: Prior to [Date 180 days after Secretary SUMMARY: The Federal Deposit publication of a final rule], representations Insurance Corporation is seeking The Secretary of Energy has approved with respect to the energy use or efficiency comment on proposed amendments to publication of this supplemental notice of a microwave oven, including compliance its regulations governing deposit of proposed rulemaking. certifications, must be based on testing insurance coverage. The proposed rule List of Subjects in 10 CFR Part 430 conducted in accordance with either this appendix as it now appears or appendix I as would simplify the deposit insurance Administrative practice and it appeared at 10 CFR part 430, subpart B regulations by establishing a ‘‘trust procedure, Confidential business revised as of January 1, 2021.
    [Show full text]
  • The Great Depression: an Overview by David C
    Introduction The Great Depression: An Overview by David C. Wheelock Why should students learn about the Great Depression? Our grandparents and great-grandparents lived through these tough times, but you may think that you should focus on more recent episodes in Ameri- can life. In this essay, I hope to convince you that the Great Depression is worthy of your interest and deserves attention in economics, social studies and history courses. One reason to study the Great Depression is that it was by far the worst economic catastrophe of the 20th century and, perhaps, the worst in our nation’s history. Between 1929 and 1933, the quantity of goods and services produced in the United States fell by one-third, the unemployment rate soared to 25 percent of the labor force, the stock market lost 80 percent of its value and some 7,000 banks failed. At the store, the price of chicken fell from 38 cents a pound to 12 cents, the price of eggs dropped from 50 cents a dozen to just over 13 cents, and the price of gasoline fell from 10 cents a gallon to less than a nickel. Still, many families went hungry, and few could afford to own a car. Another reason to study the Great Depression is that the sheer magnitude of the economic collapse— and the fact that it involved every aspect of our economy and every region of our country—makes this event a great vehicle for teaching important economic concepts. You can learn about inflation and defla- tion, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and unemployment by comparing the Depression with more recent experiences.
    [Show full text]
  • Protecting Bank Deposits
    E C O N O M I C I S S U E S 9 Protecting Bank Deposits Gillian G. Garcia I N T E R N A T I O N A L M O N E T A R Y F U N D W A S H I N G T O N , D . C . ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution ©1997 International Monetary Fund ISBN: 1-55775-642-2 ISSN: 1020-5098 Published July 1997 To order IMF publications, please contact: International Monetary Fund, Publication Services 700 19th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20431, U.S.A. Tel.: (202) 623-7430 Telefax: (202) 623-7201 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.imf.org ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution Preface The Economic Issues series aims to make available to a broad readership of nonspecialists some of the economic research being produced in the International Monetary Fund on topical issues. The raw material of the series is drawn mainly from IMF Working Papers, technical papers produced by Fund staff members and visiting scholars, as well as from policy-related research papers. This mate- rial is refined for the general readership by editing and partial redrafting. The following paper draws on material originally contained in IMF Working Paper 96/83, “Deposit Insurance: Obtaining the Benefits and Avoiding the Pitfalls,” by Gillian Garcia of the IMF’s Monetary and Exchange Affairs Department. Alfred Imhoff prepared the present version. Readers interested in the original Working Paper may purchase a copy from IMF Publication Services ($7.00). iii ©International Monetary Fund.
    [Show full text]
  • International Directory of Deposit Insurers
    A listing of addresses of deposit insurers, central banks and other entities involved in deposit insurance functions. Division of Insurance and Research Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Washington, DC 20429 The FDIC thanks the countries listed for their cooperation, without which the directory would not have been possible. Please direct any comments or corrections to: Donna Vogel Division of Insurance and Research, FDIC by phone +1 202 898 8703 or by e-mail [email protected] FDIC INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY OF DEPOSIT INSURERS ■ OCTOBER 2018 Table of Contents AFGHANISTAN ......................................................................................................................................6 ALBANIA ...............................................................................................................................................6 ALGERIA ................................................................................................................................................6 ARGENTINA ..........................................................................................................................................6 ARMENIA ..............................................................................................................................................7 AUSTRALIA ............................................................................................................................................7 AUSTRIA ................................................................................................................................................7
    [Show full text]
  • Determinants of Deposit-Insurance Adoption and Design
    NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES DETERMINANTS OF DEPOSIT-INSURANCE ADOPTION AND DESIGN Asli Demirguc-Kunt Edward J. Kane Luc Laeven Working Paper 12862 http://www.nber.org/papers/w12862 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 January 2007 Demirguc-Kunt: World Bank; Kane: Boston College and NBER; Laeven: IMF and CEPR. Corresponding author: Edward Kane, James F. Cleary Professor in Finance, Boston College, Fulton Hall 330A, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, e-mail: [email protected], phone: (617) 552-3986, fax: (617) 552-0431. We are grateful to George Pennacchi (the Editor), two anonymous referees, Thorsten Beck, Stijn Claessens, Mark Flannery, Patrick Honohan, Ozer Karagedikli, and Loretta Mester for very useful comments. For additional suggestions, we also want to thank seminar participants at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Victoria University of Wellington, the FDIC Center for Financial Research's Fifth Annual Banking Research Conference, and the 2005 AFA meetings in Philadelphia. We thank Baybars Karacaovali and Guillermo Noguera for helping to construct the new database and for providing excellent research assistance, and we thank numerous colleagues at the World Bank for providing input for the deposit insurance database. This paper's findings, interpretations, and conclusions are entirely those of the authors and do not represent the views of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, their Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. © 2007 by Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Edward J. Kane, and Luc Laeven.
    [Show full text]
  • Information to the Depositor
    Annex 5 to the General Regulations for AB Citadele Bank Services INFORMATION TO THE DEPOSITOR Key Information on the Protection of the Deposit Deposits held with Citadele Bank are insured with the State Undertaking Deposit and Investment Insurance up to 100,000 Euro per depositor for all deposits held with a Limit of coverage single credit institution1 all of the deposits held with the same credit institution shall be If you hold more deposits with the same credit institution added together and the total amount shall be subject to the limit of coverage of 100,000 Euro1 the limit of coverage of 100,000 Euro shall apply to each If you hold a joint account with another person(s) individual depositor2 The term of payment of an insurance benefit in cases, where 20 working days3 the credit institution fails to fulfil its obligations, shall be Currency of the insurance benefit Euro State Undertaking Deposit and Investment Insurance Algirdo str. 31, LT-03219 Vilnius Contact details Tel.: +370 5 213 5657 Fax: +370 5 213 5546 E-mail: [email protected] For more information, please visit www.iidraudimas.lt Notes: 1 In the event of failure to repay the deposit where the credit institution is unable to fulfil its financial obligations, State Undertaking Deposit and Investment Insurance shall pay out insurance benefits to the depositors. The highest amount of the insurance benefit for deposits held with a single credit institution shall be 100 000 Euro per depositor. When determining the amount of the deposit insurance benefit, all deposits held with the same credit institution shall be added up.
    [Show full text]
  • Options for Reforming Deposit Protection Schemes in the EU
    Options for reforming deposit protection schemes in the EU Maria Gerhardt & Karel Lannoo ECRI POLICY BRIEF NO. 4 (MARCH 2011) he trust of EU citizens in the EU’s single financial market was seriously undermined as a result of the financial crisis. Citizens suddenly realised that different levels and forms of depositor protection Tco-existed in the EU, whereas they had been told for almost 20 years that a single market was in place. Following the Northern Rock bank run in September 2007, it was clear that deposit protection systems in the EU did not function as they should. But it took European policy-makers another year to modify the 1994 Directive and drastically increase the level of deposit protection, in order to avoid a deep systemic crisis. Current deposit insurance arrangements in Europe need to be changed, as they match neither market integration nor consumer expectations. But deposit insurance cannot be considered in isolation; it is part of the broader financial safety net and the crisis resolution tools for banks. Confronted with the question of what option should be taken to draw the right lessons from the crisis, practically the only option is an EU- wide fund, but policy-makers are still hesitant. Any intermediate solution will maintain too many distortions and imperfections and will not provide a coherent response to current challenges. This policy brief starts with a review of current policy discussions on deposit insurance in the EU.1 The second part looks at the role of deposit insurance as part of the (European) financial safety net.
    [Show full text]