Frequently asked questions about the Deposit Guarantee Fund

O Fundo dThe Deposit Guarantee Fund is a public entity with its own autonomy.

It is based in Lisbon and operates alongside the Bank of Portugal. Its role is to guarantee the repayment of deposits held at participating credit institutions if those deposits become unavailable. The Fund follows the rules set out in Articles 154 to 173 of the General Regime of Credit Institutions and Financial Companies, as well as all other applicable legislation.

The Deposit Guarantee Fund will reimburse your deposits up to the limit of €100,000 within a maximum period of 7 working days. If you have not been reimbursed within this timeframe, it is advisable to contact the Deposit Guarantee Fund, as the period for claiming reimbursement may be limited. For more information, please visit www.fgd.pt/en.

The Deposit Guarantee Fund ensures the total reimbursement of your deposits in each credit institution, up to a maximum limit of €100,000 per depositor.

This guarantee is applicable on a per-credit-institution basis. Thus, if you have received reimbursement from the FGD due to unavailability of deposits at one institution, it does not impact the deposit guarantee at another institution, as long as both are participants in the FGD.

If you have a shared, joint, or solidarity account, and unless otherwise indicated, the reimbursement of balances is generally divided evenly among the account holders, unless stated otherwise. Each account holder is entitled to their respective share, with a maximum coverage of €100,000. However, when deposits are made into an account accessible to multiple individuals as members of an association or a special committee without legal entity, those deposits are aggregated as if they were made by a single depositor. In such cases, reimbursement is capped at €100,000.

Participation in the Deposit Guarantee Fund is mandatory for:

• Credit institutions based in Portugal that are authorised to receive deposits.
• Credit institutions based outside the European Union, for deposits held at their branches in Portugal — unless those deposits are already protected by a guarantee scheme in their home country that the Bank of Portugal considers equivalent.

The Deposit Guarantee Fund ensures, up to certain limits, the repayment of:

• Deposits, made in Portugal or in EU member states, in credit institutions with registered offices in Portugal;
• Deposits made in Portugal with branches of the credit institutions mentioned above.

If a deposit cannot be withdrawn because the credit institution fails to meet its financial obligations, the Deposit Guarantee Fund guarantees repayment of the total cash balance of each depositor per institution, up to €100,000.

For this purpose, the balances are considered as of the date the deposits become unavailable.

In the case of joint accounts, the €100,000 limit applies to each depositor. In the absence of any indication to the contrary, the balances of joint, collective, or shared accounts are assumed to belong equally to all account holders.

However, deposits in an account accessible to two or more people as members of a business partnership, association, or similar group without legal personality are aggregated and treated as if they were held by a single depositor for the purpose of calculating the €100,000 limit.

In some deposits, the limit of 100.000€ does not apply for a period of 1 year, starting on the date when the amount was credited to the customer's account.

These include:

• Deposits resulting from real estate transactions related with private residential buildings;
• Deposits with social purposes, regulated by a separate diploma;
• Deposits in which the amount derives from the payment of insurance installments or indemnities due to the practice of a crime or from a wrongful conviction.

The following deposits are excluded from the repayment guarantee:

• Deposits held in the name of and on behalf of credit institutions, investment firms, financial institutions, insurance and reinsurance companies, collective investment institutions, pension funds, national and foreign public sector entities, and supranational or international organisations, except for:
• Deposits of pension funds whose members are small or medium-sized enterprises;
• Deposits of local authorities with an annual budget of €500,000 or less;
• Deposits resulting from transactions for which a final criminal conviction has been issued for money laundering;
• Deposits whose holder has not been identified in accordance with Article 8 of Law No. 25/2008 of 5 June (as amended), by providing the information required under Article 7 of the same law, as of the date the deposits become unavailable;
• Deposits of people or entities who, in the two years prior to the date the deposits become unavailable, or the date a resolution measure was adopted, held a direct or indirect participation equal to or greater than 2% of the credit institution’s share capital, or were members of its administrative bodies, unless it can be shown that they did not, by action or omission, cause the institution’s financial difficulties and did not contribute, by action or omission, to worsening the situation.

Balances held in a foreign currency will be converted into euros at the exchange rate on the date the deposits are deemed unavailable.

The Deposit Guarantee Fund will reimburse your deposits up to the limit of €100,000 within a maximum period of 7 working days. If you have not been reimbursed within this timeframe, it is advisable to contact the Deposit Guarantee Fund, as the period for claiming reimbursement may be limited. For more information, please visit www.fgd.pt/en.

Credit institutions accepting deposits in Portugal must provide the public with all relevant information about the deposit guarantee schemes that cover the deposits they receive, in a clear and easily understandable way. This includes the scheme’s identification, applicable rules, the guaranteed amount, coverage scope, and the maximum repayment period.

This information is provided in a specific document called the “Depositor Information Form” (DIF).

The Depositor Information Form is provided at the time the account is opened and must be signed by all account holders. In addition, the form is provided to the depositor at least once a year.

Credit institutions must inform depositors that their deposits are protected by the Deposit Guarantee Fund, by including a reference to the Depositor Information Form in the account statements.

Credit institutions must inform depositors whenever their deposits are not covered by the guarantee.

You can find more information about the Deposit Guarantee Fund at www.millenniumbcp.pt, at any Bank branch, or on the Banking Client Portal at www.bportugal.pt.

The Fund also provides all the info you might need for depositors at www.fgd.pt, including the guaranteed amount, what’s covered, and how repayments work.