Compensation Process

The deposit guarantee scheme is triggered automatically when deposits with a credit institution member of the Fonds de garantie des dépôts Luxembourg (FGDL, Luxembourg Deposit Guarantee Fund), are considered unavailable. In accordance with Article 170 of the Law of 18 December 2015, as amended, a deposit will be considered unavailable when it is due and payable, but has not been paid by the member institution under the legal or contractual conditions applicable thereto, where either:

• the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier has determined that for the time being, and for reasons which are directly related to its financial situation, the institution concerned appears to be unable to repay the deposit and the institution appears to have no current prospect of being able to do so; or
• the Tribunal d’arrondissement (District Court) in Luxembourg sitting in commercial matters has ordered the suspension of payments or winding up of the member institution, for reasons which are directly applicable to its financial situation.

In order to determine the repayable amount to which the depositor may be entitled, the FGDL will consider the aggregate amount of deposits held by a depositor with the same credit institution, regardless of whether they are deposited in different accounts and in different currencies, or even with branches of the same member institution established in the European Union. All the information necessary for this calculation, as well as the contact data of the depositors are transmitted within three days by the failing bank to the FGDL, without the customers having to intervene. The FGDL then prepares to make repayments by bank transfer. In the meantime, we advise you to carefully follow the publications made via this website.

Around the fourth day after the determination of the unavailability of the deposits, the FGDL sends each depositor a letter of information drafted in several languages – accompanied by a form. Depositors are requested to return the completed and signed form to the FGDL. This form allows the depositor to communicate to the FGDL a new account number with another bank on which the refund will be transferred.

Depositors who have not received a letter up to the eighth day from the date of determination of unavailability should contact the FGDL by email (info@fgdl.lu) or telephone ((+352) 27 0 22-1).

As soon as the depositor has communicated his/her new bank details to the FGDL, the amount to be repaid will be made available within a few days via bank transfer. However, in certain specific situations that are dependent on the status of the depositor or the accounts, the FGDL is required to carry out additional verifications to determine the amount to be reimbursed. The FGDL may contact the depositors concerned to request additional information.

There is no guarantee of the surplus on excess of EUR 100,000, respectively EUR 2,500,000 including temporary high balances. The depositor keeps a claim for that surplus on the bank which must be asserted with the liquidator.

Complaints regarding the decision on the compensation may be lodged with the Conseil de protection des déposants et des investisseurs (CPDI, Council for the Protection of Depositors and Investors). In the event of a total or partial rejection of the complaint by the CPDI, an action for reversal of the CPDI’s decision is opened. That action is to be lodged with the Tribunal administratif (Administrative Tribunal) within three months as from the notification of the CPDI’s decision, failing which the remedy will be time-barred.

Depositors whose deposits have neither been acknowledged by the FGDL, nor repaid, have ten years following the determination or declaration of unavailability of the deposits to claim the repayment of their deposits.