Understand
the Economy and Banking

The Interbank Deposit Protection Fund (FITD) is a consortium under private law between banks, the purpose of which is to guarantee the depositors of banks belonging to the consortium up to 100,000 euros per depositor and per bank.

Mandatory membership
All Italian banks are required to join one of the two deposit guarantee schemes established and recognised in Italy. Membership is a necessary condition for the exercise of banking activities.

All Italian banks join the FITD, with the exception of credit cooperative banks that are members of a similar fund (FGDCC), Italian branches of foreign banks based in non-EU countries and, on a voluntary basis, branches of EU banks to supplement the protection of the scheme to which they belong.

Scope of guarantee
The FITD guarantee includes current accounts, deposits accounts (including time deposits), nominative certificates of deposit, nominative saving books and banking drafts.

Exclusions
Investment instruments issued by the bank (shares, bonds, repurchase agreements, etc.), as well as deposits in the name and on behalf of banks, financial companies, insurance companies, public bodies and pension funds, are not covered by the FITD.

Interventions of the FITD
The repayment of depositors is made by the FITD in cases where the bank of Italy has adopted the order declaring the deposits unavailable or the compulsory administrative liquidation of the member bank has been ordered.

The Fund may also intervene in other ways to protect the depositors of the member banks authorised in Italy, through:
• interventions in the sale of assets and liabilities, in the event of compulsory administrative liquidation of a member bank;
• preventative interventions to anticipate or overcome the bank's crisis situation and enable its recovery;
• contribution to the financing of the resolution procedure (a process managed by the resolution authority, with the objective of managing the faliing or likely to fail situation of a bank in an orderly manner) activated against member banks.

Repayment times
Repayment is made available within 7 working days, starting from the date on which the unavailability of deposits or compulsory administrative liquidation of the bank takes effect.

Financing
The resources for carrying out interventions are provided to the FITD by member banks through periodic contributions proportional to the volume of covered deposits and their level of risk. If necessary, the FITD may request extraordinary contributions from member banks.

Public deposit guarantee schemes
These deposit guarantee schemes are managed by public bodies (e.g., central banks, ministries) and are financed with public resources or with contributions paid by banks. Such systems are present in many countries, but not in Italy.

Private deposit guarantee schemes
These schemes are managed and financed by private entities, for example, banking consortia (such as the FITD).

Mixed deposit guarantee schemes
These schemes combine both public and private elements.

Schemes financed ex-ante
These include deposit guarantee schemes, public or private, in which member banks pay regular contributions to a fund that is used to carry out interventions (such as the FITD).

Schemes financed ex-post
In these schemes, banks pay contributions only after a banking crisis occurs, in order to repay depositors or implement other forms of intervention provided for by law.

Voluntary schemes
In some countries, in addition to compulsory schemes, there are also voluntarily established schemes, where banks choose to participate to offer an additional level of security to their depositors (the FITD has established an in-house voluntary intervention scheme in which 101 banks currently participate voluntarily).

Protection of depositors
The FITD guarantees depositors the protection of their savings and the recovery of their deposits in the event of compulsory liquidation of the bank.

Financial system stability
The FITD works closely with regulatory and supervisory authorities, including the Bank of Italy and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to ensure financial stability and depositor guarantee.

Conformity with European directives
The FITD complies with European legislation on deposit protection (Directive 2014/49/EU), which has harmonised deposit guarantee schemes in all countries of the European Union, in particular the level of coverage (100,000 euro), repayment times (7 working days) and financing methods.

International cooperation
The FITD actively works with the other guarantee systems at an international level and within the framework of the associations that group them (EFDI, European Forum of Deposit Insurers and IADI, International Association of Deposit Insurers), for the purposes of cooperation, exchange of experiences and best practices, operational coordination and participation in the development of sectoral legislation.