Is My Money Safe
in a German Bank?
Germany has one of the strongest depositor protection systems in the world. By law, every bank must protect your deposits up to €100,000 — and most go significantly further through voluntary additional schemes. This guide explains exactly what is covered, what is not, and how to protect amounts above the statutory limit.
The €100,000 EU baseline: how it works
Every bank operating in the European Union must belong to a national deposit guarantee scheme (DGS) that protects customer deposits up to €100,000 per person per bank. This is EU law under the Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive (2014/49/EU), transposed into German law as the Einlagensicherungsgesetz (EinSiG) on 3 July 2015. There are no exceptions: from Deutsche Bank to your local Sparkasse to a Lithuanian fintech bank accessible via Raisin — all must comply.
"Per person per bank" is the critical phrase. If you hold a Girokonto with €40,000 and a Tagesgeld account with €70,000 at the same bank, the total is €110,000 — and only €100,000 is protected. The remaining €10,000 becomes an unsecured creditor claim against the insolvent estate. If those same amounts were at two different banks, both would be fully protected.
What happens when a bank fails
BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) officially determines that the bank cannot fulfil its obligations to depositors. This triggers the payout process.
The applicable deposit guarantee scheme automatically identifies depositors and their balances from the bank's records. You do not need to file a claim — the scheme contacts you directly.
Amounts up to €100,000 are paid into a replacement account within 7 working days of the BaFin declaration. For the period after the 2008 financial crisis, this was extended from the previous 20-day standard specifically to reduce depositor anxiety during bank stress events.
For deposits above €100,000 at banks with voluntary additional protection (see below), the voluntary scheme processes claims separately. Timeline varies. If no voluntary scheme applies, the excess becomes an unsecured creditor claim in insolvency proceedings.
- Current account (Girokonto) balances
- Flexible savings (Tagesgeld)
- Fixed-term deposits (Festgeld)
- Savings passbooks (Sparbuch)
- Joint account deposits (€100,000 per holder)
- Accrued interest at time of insolvency
- Deposits exceeding €100,000 at one bank (excess)
- Bearer bonds and bearer certificates
- Stocks, ETFs, funds (different protection — see below)
- Deposits of financial institutions and insurers
- Deposits from public authorities
For joint accounts (Gemeinschaftskonten), the €100,000 limit applies per account holder — so a joint account with two holders has combined protection of €200,000. Make sure both holders are named on the account, as the DGS uses the bank's account records to determine coverage.
Germany's four deposit protection systems
Germany does not have a single deposit guarantee system — it has four parallel systems, structured by bank type. Understanding which applies to your bank tells you exactly how protected your money is beyond the statutory €100,000 floor.
EdB — Statutory scheme for private banks
Private banksEntschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken GmbH
The EdB is the statutory deposit guarantee scheme for private German banks — the legal minimum required by EU directive. It covers up to €100,000 per customer if a member bank fails and cannot be rescued. The EdB is funded through mandatory risk-weighted contributions from all member banks. It has paid out on several occasions, including in the aftermath of IKB and Düsseldorfer Hypothekenbank failures.
BdB Voluntary Fund — additional protection above EdB
Private banks (voluntary)Einlagensicherungsfonds des Bundesverbands deutscher Banken e.V. (ESF)
Most large German private banks additionally participate in the voluntary Deposit Protection Fund of the Association of German Banks (BdB). This fund provides protection well above the statutory €100,000. Important change since 2025: the BdB fund has been reducing its coverage levels as part of a long-planned reform. Since 2025, private customers are protected up to €3 million per bank through this fund (down from the previously unlimited coverage for long-established members). This drops further to €1 million per customer from 2030.
DSGV Institutional Protection — Sparkassen
Savings banksSicherungssystem der Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (DSGV)
Sparkassen do not participate in the EdB. Instead, they operate an institutional protection scheme (Institutssicherung) — a fundamentally different approach. Rather than paying out depositors after a failure, the scheme prevents failures from occurring: if a Sparkasse experiences financial difficulties, the other Sparkassen collectively inject capital to support it. The result: no Sparkasse has ever become insolvent in German history. The DSGV scheme is recognised as a statutory deposit guarantee scheme under German law since 2015.
BVR Institutional Protection — Volksbanken/Raiffeisenbanken
Cooperative banksBVR Institutssicherung GmbH / Sicherungseinrichtung des BVR
Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken operate a dual system: the BVR Institutssicherung GmbH (recognised as a statutory DGS) and the continuing voluntary BVR security scheme. As with Sparkassen, the primary goal is preventing member bank failure through mutual support. If a Volksbank or Raiffeisenbank gets into difficulty, the network intervenes. The statutory €100,000 EU guarantee applies as a fallback.
Are neobanks and digital banks safe?
This is the most common question from expats opening their first German bank account. The short answer: yes, within the same limits as traditional banks. All German-licensed neobanks are supervised by BaFin and participate in the EdB statutory scheme. The key question is whether they also participate in the voluntary BdB fund — which most do once they reach the required membership criteria.
C24 Bank GmbH is a fully licensed German bank (BaFin). Deposits are protected under the statutory EdB scheme up to €100,000. C24 is a subsidiary of the CHECK24 group. Check C24's current Informationsbogen für den Einleger for confirmed voluntary fund membership status.
Open free accountDKB is a fully licensed German bank and subsidiary of BayernLB (a Landesbank). As part of the BayernLB group, DKB benefits from both the statutory EdB protection and the voluntary BdB protection fund. BayernLB itself is part of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe institutional protection. DKB is among the most robustly protected accounts available to expats.
Open DKB accountTrade Republic Bank GmbH holds a full BaFin banking licence. Cash is held at four partner banks: Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Citibank, and Société Générale. Each partner bank's holding is separately protected up to €100,000 under the statutory scheme — providing potential aggregate coverage of up to €400,000 across all four partners. Securities (ETFs, stocks) are held as Sondervermögen (see below) and are not affected by deposit guarantee limits.
Open Trade RepublicN26 Bank GmbH is a fully licensed German bank under BaFin supervision, participating in the EdB statutory scheme for up to €100,000 per customer. N26 does not currently participate in the voluntary BdB fund. For amounts up to €100,000, N26 is fully protected; beyond that, no additional voluntary coverage currently applies.
Every German bank is required by law to provide an "Informationsbogen für den Einleger" (information sheet for depositors) — a standardised document listing exactly which deposit guarantee scheme(s) apply. This document is available on the bank's website or on your account statement. Check it to confirm whether voluntary fund membership applies beyond the statutory €100,000.
EU partner banks (Raisin, direct): what's different?
Platforms like Raisin (formerly WeltSparen) give access to Festgeld and Tagesgeld at banks across Europe: Swedish, Estonian, French, Portuguese, and other EU banks. Each of these banks participates in their home country's deposit guarantee scheme, which covers €100,000 per customer per bank under the same EU directive that governs Germany.
The protection level is identical. The practical difference is the mechanism: if a German bank fails, you deal with the German EdB; if a Swedish bank fails, you deal with the Swedish Riksgälden (National Debt Office), which runs the Swedish DGS. Raisin provides documentation support in German. For most investors with amounts well under €100,000 per bank, the distinction is academic — the EU law guarantee is equally binding in all member states.
| Bank / Platform | Protection scheme | Level | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| German bank (Girokonto) | EdB + optional BdB | €100K statutory + up to €3M BdB | Strongest overall protection |
| Sparkasse / Volksbank | DSGV / BVR Institutssicherung | De facto unlimited (no failure ever) | Institutional protection prevents failure |
| Swedish bank (e.g. Klarna, TF Bank via Raisin) | Swedish Riksgälden DGS | €100K (EU equivalent, in SEK-equivalent) | Same EU standard, different authority |
| Estonian bank (e.g. Bigbank via Raisin) | Estonian DGS (Tagatisfond) | €100K | Same EU standard |
| Trade Republic (cash) | EdB + partner bank DGS (×4) | Up to €400K combined | Special structure — 4 partner banks |
| ETFs/stocks at any German broker | Sondervermögen + EdW investor compensation | Not deposit insurance — different mechanism | Securities segregated from broker balance sheet |
Some platforms promote accounts from banks outside the EEA (e.g. Turkey, UK post-Brexit, Channel Islands). These do not fall under the EU DGS directive. UK banks post-Brexit are covered by the UK FSCS (£85,000 per person) — a different scheme. Check whether your bank operates under an EU/EEA licence before assuming the €100,000 EU protection applies.
How ETFs and stocks are protected — Sondervermögen
Deposit guarantee schemes only cover cash deposits — not securities (ETFs, stocks, bonds, funds). This is not a gap in protection; it is a different protection mechanism. Securities are held as Sondervermögen — legally segregated client assets that are entirely separate from the broker's own balance sheet.
This means: if your broker (Trade Republic, Scalable Capital, ING, DEGIRO) becomes insolvent, your ETFs and stocks cannot be touched by the broker's creditors. They belong to you. The insolvency administrator's job is to identify your holdings from the broker's records and either transfer them to another custodian or facilitate an orderly sale at your instruction. Your securities investment is not lost if your broker fails.
- Your ETFs and stocks belong to you, legally
- Segregated from the broker's own assets
- Protected from broker's creditors in insolvency
- Applies to all BaFin-regulated custodians
- No upper limit (unlike deposit guarantee)
- Covers up to 90 % or €20,000 per customer
- For claims that cannot be returned from segregated assets
- Lower cap than cash deposit guarantee
- Rarely needed since Sondervermögen provides primary protection
ETF funds themselves: a second layer of protection
Beyond the Sondervermögen of the custody account, ETF funds themselves are also Sondervermögen. The fund provider (iShares/BlackRock, Vanguard, Amundi) holds the underlying shares and bonds as legally separate assets. If both your broker and the ETF fund provider simultaneously failed, the underlying shares in the VWCE fund (Apple, Microsoft, etc.) would still legally belong to the VWCE fund investors.
This double Sondervermögen structure — one at broker level, one at fund level — makes long-term ETF investing structurally safer than holding equivalent cash at a single bank above the €100,000 threshold.
If you have more than €100,000 — what to do
For most expats in Germany, the €100,000 limit is not a practical concern for years. But if you arrive with a lump sum, receive an inheritance, or sell property and temporarily hold a large cash amount, the protection level matters.
The institutional protection scheme of Sparkassen and Volksbanken effectively provides unlimited protection because member banks do not fail. For large cash holdings, placing them at a Sparkasse is the simplest way to remove practical insolvency risk without worrying about €100,000 caps. Account opening requires an appointment at a local branch.
Keep no more than €100,000 at any one bank. Via Raisin, you can hold Festgeld at multiple EU partner banks simultaneously from one platform — so a €300,000 lump sum split into three €100,000 Festgeld accounts at three different banks is each fully protected. The split needs to be across different legal entities (not branches of the same bank).
Cash above €100,000 held at a single bank is at risk of partial loss if the bank fails. ETFs held as Sondervermögen are not subject to this risk at all — there is no €100,000 cap on segregated securities. If you have €200,000 and expect to invest it long-term, holding €100,000 in Festgeld and €100,000 in a broad ETF eliminates the bank exposure entirely for the invested portion.
A joint account at a German bank provides €200,000 of protection (€100,000 per account holder). For couples, this effectively doubles the statutory protection at a single institution. Both account holders must be named on the account and the DGS uses the bank's records to determine per-holder amounts.
Under EU law, certain temporary high balances are protected above €100,000 for up to 180 days: proceeds from property sales, inheritance receipts, insurance payouts for personal injury or disability, and marriage or divorce-related lump sums. This temporary elevated protection (Einlagensicherung für außergewöhnliche Situationen) gives you time to redistribute a large inflow without immediate risk above the standard limit. Notify your bank when a high-balance situation arises to ensure this protection is correctly recorded.
Frequently asked questions
For the vast majority of expats in Germany — those holding under €100,000 in any single bank — the deposit guarantee system provides extremely solid protection. The combination of the statutory EU €100,000 guarantee, Germany's robust bank supervision by BaFin, and the institutional protection of Sparkassen and Volksbanken makes this one of the safest banking environments in the world for retail savers.
The practical rules: keep under €100,000 at any single private bank; use a Sparkasse or Volksbank if you need to park a large sum in one place; understand that your ETF and stock holdings at any BaFin-regulated broker are protected through Sondervermögen regardless of amount; and check the Informationsbogen für den Einleger for any bank where you hold savings to confirm whether the voluntary BdB fund adds protection above €100,000.