The statue in front of the Rabobank office in Utrecht

Dutch Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS)

By law, all banks with their own banking licence have to participate in the Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS). The scheme is executed by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). The DGS guarantees that you will get back all or part of your credit and savings balances if your bank gets into difficulties. If a bank is unable to meet its obligations, DNB will bring the DGS into effect. It is important that banks are financially sound. Rabobank is currently one of the world’s highest rated private banks.

Guarantee of your credit and savings balances if your bank gets into difficulties

Under the scheme you will be reimbursed the credit balances in all your accounts, up to a maximum of € 100,000 per account holder per bank. The following conditions apply:

    the bank is covered by the DGS the account/product/credit balance is covered by the DGS the account holder is entitled to claim a reimbursement under the DGS

Rabobank (and its branches in the European Union) is covered by the DGS. Basic information on the protection of credit balances and the reimbursement period is provided in the Depositor information sheet. This also contains an overview of the relevant brands that Rabobank uses.

Which credit balances and accounts are covered by the DGS?

The DGS covers credit balances (also in foreign currency) in the following accounts:

    bank accounts and current accounts savings accounts fixed-term deposits life-cycle saving scheme bank savings account investment accounts

What is not covered by the DGS?

Shares and other financial instruments, bearer bonds and life or other insurance policies and annuity insurances are not covered by the DGS. The same applies to sums held in construction trusts (“bouwdepot”) and electronic money.

Savings deposits against owner-occupied home debt are not covered by the DGS if under the specific statutory scheme these can be set off against the associated owner-occupied home debt (endowment mortgages).

The following groups of persons are excluded from reimbursement under the DGS:

    holders of accounts used for money-laundering account holders who have never provided proof of identity

Retail account holders

Retail Rabobank customers can submit an appeal under the DGS. Both adults and minors are covered by the scheme. The cover applies regardless of where you live, your nationality or your age.

Examples of the DGS

Business / corporate account holders

Business customers of Rabobank, whether their business is small or large, are covered by the DGS. The following groups of business customers are not covered by the DGS:

    Governments. This includes national and regional government bodies, such as municipalities, district water boards, provinces and the Dutch Central Government. Financial enterprises such as banks and (re)insurers. Professional investors and professional market parties, such as financial enterprises and institutional investors such as pension funds, banks, investment institutions, investment firms and collective investment schemes.

Note that private companies incorporated to make periodic payments (pensioen-BVs or stamrecht-BVs) are not subject to this exclusion. This means that such companies are covered by the DGS.

Notes on the DGS

Reimbursement under the DGS

The DGS guarantees reimbursement of up to € 100,000 per account holder per bank. If a legal or natural person has several accounts with the same bank, the balances in these accounts are added together. The maximum reimbursement of € 100,000 applies to the total balance in these accounts. To receive the reimbursement, you must declare that you waive your right to a settlement of this balance against any debts to the failed bank. This is a legal requirement. If you waive your right to settlement, DNB can pay you the reimbursement within the allotted term. If you do not provide this declaration, DNB will not be able to reimburse you. The declaration applies only to the sum you receive in reimbursement under the DGS. This is up to € 100,000.

Example calculation

An account holder has two accounts with balances of € 50,000 and € 70,000 at the same bank. Collectively, this is a balance of € 120,000. This account holder will receive the maximum reimbursement of € 100,000 under the DGS. The account holder can file the amount not covered by the DGS (in this case € 20,000) with the receiver for bankruptcy.

Tax aspects

Some savings accounts involve a future tax liability. This applies for instance to bank savings accounts such as Rabo ToekomstSparen and Rabo GoudenHanddrukSparen. Formally speaking, pay-out of these accounts is subject to income tax. This is not the intention of the DGS. DNB is examining in consultation with the Tax & Customs Administration what possibilities there are to avoid or mitigate the negative tax effects of payments under the DGS as far as possible.

Implementation of the Deposit Guarantee Scheme

Further information on the DGS is provided in the Depositor information sheet.

The DGS is executed by De Nederlandsche Bank NV (DNB).

Further information on the DGS including the reimbursement period and example calculations can be found on the DNB website.