Release date: September 2016
The Australian Government's Financial Claims Scheme (FCS) protects people's deposits in the unlikely event that a bank, building society or credit union fails. It only covers banking institutions that are incorporated in Australia, and has been known as the Australian Government deposit guarantee.
Under the FCS, deposits are protected up to a limit of $250,000 for each account holder at any bank, building society or credit union that is incorporated in Australia.
The FCS can only come into effect if it is activated by the Australian Government when an institution fails. Once activated, the FCS will be administered by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
In an FCS scenario, APRA would aim to pay the majority of customers their protected deposits under the Scheme within seven calendar days.
The FCS limit of $250,000 applies to the sum of an account holder's deposits under the one banking license.
Therefore, all deposits held by an account holder with a single banking institution must be added together towards the $250,000 FCS limit, and this includes accounts with any other banking businesses that the licenced banking institution may operate under a different trading name.
Information on the FCS is available on the FCS website – www.fcs.gov.au.
