Most people trust that if they put their money into a bank account that it will be always there when they need it. Unfortunately history teaches us that this is not always true. For this reason almost every government has put into place some regulation that there must be some kind of protection for their citizens in case a bank could no longer meet its obligations. Nowadays most account holders are partly protected by some sort of regulation agreed between banks and the government.
Guarantees within Europe
The guarantee scheme is a regulation which protects the interests of account holders. The European Union obliges the Member States to set up such a regulation and gives minimum standards to which those regulations must apply.
The guarantee scheme gives protection to individuals, small ventures, associations and foundations which are entitled to a reimbursement on the bank which is unable, or likely to be unable, to pay claims against it. The regulation provides in most cases in repayment up to Euro 38.000 by account holder by bank.
Important note : If you want your savings assured as much as possible, then you must split up your savings over several accounts with several different banks.
Guarantees outside Europe
Also outside Europe almost every country has similar guarantee schemes.
The United States know the FDIC : Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. They know a guarantee of USD 100,000 and under some circumstances even 250,000. See for more information http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/insured/index.html
The United Kingdom know the FSCS : Financial Services Compensation Scheme. See for more information http://www.fscs.org.uk
If you want to know more about guarantees concerning banks in other foreign countries then you can find almost certainly more information on the internet site of the local central bank. See for a list of central banks http://www.bis.org/cbanks.htm
