Deposit insurance
Deposit insurance covers part of the money you hold in a bank if that bank fails. The scheme applies per depositor per bank, up to a limit set by the scheme. Knowing what counts as a deposit helps you judge how much of your money is covered.
Deposit insurance
- Covered up to
- 100,000ZAR
- per depositor, per bank, principal and interest together
Covered
- Qualifying deposits at banks: current, savings, notice and fixed accounts
- Islamic and tax-free savings deposits held at a bank
Not covered
- Unit trusts and money market funds, including inside a tax-free account
- Anything above the limit at one bank
Corporation for Deposit Insurance (CODI), a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank 3 · Full rules on the Reserve Bank's CODI pages
How the limit works per depositor per bank
Deposit insurance in South Africa is run by the Corporation for Deposit Insurance, known as CODI. It covers deposits held with banks that are members of the scheme. The engine on this page shows the current limit and the types of deposits it applies to.
The limit works per depositor, per bank. If you hold several accounts at the same bank, they are added together for this purpose, and the total is covered only up to the limit. Holding accounts at more than one bank means each bank is treated separately.
Some accounts are held by more than one person, and the scheme has rules for how those balances are treated. Business accounts and trust accounts can follow different rules from personal accounts. Check the scheme's own material for the detail that applies to your situation.
What is not a deposit, and how to spread large sums
Not everything sold through a bank is a deposit. Unit trusts and money market funds are investments, not deposits, even when you buy them inside a tax-free savings account. They are not covered by deposit insurance, and their value can fall.
A large balance at one bank may sit above the limit. One general approach is to hold money across more than one bank so that each balance stays within the covered amount. Another is to keep short-term cash needs in insured deposits and hold longer-term money in products suited to its purpose.
Spreading money does not remove investment risk, and it does not make a product covered when it is not a deposit. It only affects how much of your deposit balance falls within the insurance limit. Review where your cash sits from time to time, especially after a balance grows.
A common mistake is assuming that every product with a bank's name on it is a deposit. Unit trusts and money market funds are not covered, even inside a tax-free savings account.
Sources and read dates
Every figure on this page points to one of these. The date on the right is the day we read the source.
- 3InsurerCorporation for Deposit Insurance, frequently asked questionswww.resbank.co.zadeposit insurance limit and scope