What happens to your money if your bank fails in Canada?

(NC) Many people worry about what happens to their money if their bank were to fail. In Canada, there are established rules and organizations to ensure our financial system is strong, resilient and well-regulated to help protect your savings.

One of these organizations is the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC). As part of Canada’s financial safety net, it exists to provide deposit insurance on a federal level to keep your money safe if one of its member banks fails. For each member institution, they insure eligible deposits up to $100,000 per category. This includes money in savings accounts, chequing accounts, term deposits (like GICs), and even money in foreign currency (like U.S. dollars).

In the unlikely event a bank were to fail in Canada, CDIC can help in a number of ways—from restructuring the institution to quickly reimbursing your insured money.

What is not protected?
Here’s what’s not insured by federal deposit insurance, but may be covered by other organizations: 

• Mutual funds 
• Stocks and bonds 
• Cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin) 
• Items in safety deposit boxes 

How can you keep your money safe?
To make sure more of your money is protected, you can put it in different banks that are covered by federal deposit insurance. You can also have different types of accounts, like personal or joint, to increase your coverage.  

Banks in Canada don’t fail very often because of strong rules and government safeguards. But if one does, understanding the protections in place can help you feel safer about your savings.