Ukraine's Deposit Guarantee Fund: what happens to your deposit if a bank fails

What the Deposit Guarantee Fund is

The Deposit Guarantee Fund for individuals is a state institution that returns people's money when a bank becomes insolvent. Banks pay quarterly fees into the Fund, and from this money, and if needed from state loans, the Fund pays compensation. Every bank that takes money from the public must be a member of the Fund: without membership the National Bank does not issue a licence.

The guarantee applies only to banks. Credit unions, insurance companies, pawnshops, investment funds and other financial institutions are not members, so money placed with them is not compensated by the Fund. You can check whether a bank is a member in the register on the Fund's website, and the bank must state its membership certificate number in the deposit guarantee information sheet it gives you before you sign a contract.

How much is guaranteed now and after the war

Full compensation is not a temporary promotion by the Fund but a provision of law, passed in April 2022 and extended in 2023. While it applies, the size of your deposit at one bank does not affect the guarantee. But contracts for a year or longer are worth planning with the UAH 600,000 limit in mind: the deposit term may end after full compensation has stopped.

Which money is guaranteed

• deposits, both term and demand, in hryvnias and foreign currency;
• current accounts, including card accounts: salary, pension and social payment accounts;
• accounts of sole proprietors;
• interest accrued up to the end of the day before the bank's withdrawal from the market begins.

The deposit term does not matter: contracts that have not yet matured are compensated too. No interest accrues after the procedure begins.

Which money is not guaranteed

The law (Part 4 of Article 26) lists cases where the Fund does not compensate money even during martial law:

• Deposits in bank metals, that is, accounts recording grams of gold or silver.
• Deposits on non-market terms: where a person received interest or other benefits on individual terms considerably better than the market.
• Deposits of persons related to the bank: significant shareholders, managers, and anyone related to the bank within a year before the insolvency decision.
• Deposits of auditors and appraisers who provided services to the bank less than a year before that decision.
• Deposits pledged as collateral for an obligation to the bank, such as a loan, until the obligation is fulfilled.
• Funds in trust management with the bank and deposits under UAH 10.
• Deposits at branches of foreign banks.
• Funds arrested by a court, and accounts whose transactions are suspended under financial monitoring law.
• Funds of sanctioned persons.

Another category often confused with deposits is bonds. Government bonds bought through a bank are not a deposit: they are securities recorded in your securities account. They do not belong to the bank and are not part of its assets, so if the bank fails they are transferred to another institution rather than compensated within the guarantee. A comparison of deposits and bonds by risk, tax and liquidity is in our article on a deposit vs government bonds.

How the compensation amount is calculated

1. The Fund adds up the balances of all your deposits and accounts at that bank as of the end of the day before the procedure.
2. It adds interest accrued up to that date.
3. It converts foreign currency amounts into hryvnias at the NBU official rate for the same day.
4. It compares the result with the guarantee limit. During martial law the whole amount is paid; after it, no more than UAH 600,000.

What happens when a bank fails

1. The NBU declares the bank insolvent. Grounds include breaching capital or liquidity requirements or being unable to meet obligations to clients.
2. The Fund introduces a temporary administration, that is, it begins taking the bank off the market. From that day the bank carries out no client transactions and interest on deposits stops accruing. The Fund looks for an investor or another bank that could take over the assets and deposits.
3. Payouts of guaranteed amounts begin no later than 20 working days after the procedure starts, or 30 working days for banks with more than 500,000 accounts.
4. Liquidation. If the bank cannot be rescued, the NBU revokes its licence, and the Fund sells the bank's assets and settles with creditors. Payouts of guaranteed amounts continue until the liquidation balance sheet is approved, which usually takes several years.

A separate case is when a bank is not taken off the market but decides to liquidate itself, or the NBU revokes its licence for other reasons. Then the reference date is the day before liquidation begins, and the payout procedure is the same.

How to get your money

You do not need to apply for the guaranteed amount: the Fund compiles a register of depositors from the bank's database, then announces on its website which agent banks are paying out and from what date. All that remains is to choose how to receive the money.

• Amounts of UAH 400,000 or more are paid only by bank transfer to an account at the agent bank.
• Since 2026, minor discrepancies in documents (an apostrophe, the letters «і» and «и», an abbreviated name of the passport issuing authority) are not grounds for refusal.
• If your surname and initials match someone on the sanctions register, the payout may be suspended until clarified, so it is best to have all your documents with you.

If the amount exceeds the guarantee

Amounts above the limit, and deposits the Fund does not compensate, do not disappear, but they are not guaranteed either. You become a creditor of the bank: you submit a written creditor claim to the liquidator within the deadline stated in the liquidation notice and wait for settlement from the sale of the bank's assets. How much you recover and when depends on the quality of the assets and your place in the creditor queue. It often takes years and covers only part of the amount.

Common myths about the deposit guarantee

• "The guarantee applies to each deposit separately." No, to all of one person's deposits at one bank together. Only different banks and different people are counted separately.
• "You only get your money back after the bank is liquidated." No, payouts begin during temporary administration, within 20 working days, not years.
• "A currency deposit is returned in currency." No, only in hryvnias at the NBU official rate on the day before the procedure.
• "If the deposit has not matured, you have to wait." No, term deposits are compensated straight away with everything else, with interest up to the day before the procedure.
• "Sole proprietor accounts are not guaranteed." They are, on the same terms as individuals' accounts.
• "Large banks do not need a guarantee." The guarantee is the same for all member banks, and it is precisely what makes a large bank's failure survivable.
• "A credit union or investment company is also guaranteed." No, the Fund guarantees only deposits in banks.

What happens to loans and cards

• A loan does not disappear. The debt comes under the Fund's management and may later be sold to another creditor. Pay to the details the Fund officially announces and keep the receipts. Stopping payments means falling into arrears with all the consequences.
• A deposit pledged as loan collateral is not compensated by the Fund until the loan is repaid.
• The bank's cards stop working from the first day of temporary administration. So a salary card at one bank and a spare card at another is sensible insurance against several weeks without access to money.
• Automatic payments and subscriptions stop: move them to another card to avoid arrears on utilities or your phone.

How to protect your money

Split large sums between banks

During martial law this is a matter of convenience, and after it the main form of protection. If you have UAH 1,500,000, splitting it into UAH 500,000 at three banks keeps the whole sum guaranteed even after full compensation ends.

Leave room for interest

The guarantee limit includes accrued interest. If you deposit exactly UAH 600,000 for a year, by the end of the term the amount with interest will exceed the limit. At the average one-year hryvnia deposit rate of 14.29%, the largest amount that stays within UAH 600,000 together with a year's interest is about UAH 524,980.

Remember that the guarantee is personal

The limit is counted for each person separately. If a couple keeps two deposits of UAH 600,000 at one bank, one in each spouse's name, after full compensation ends the whole UAH 1,200,000 is protected. If the same money sits in one deposit in one spouse's name, only UAH 600,000 is guaranteed.

Do not chase an unusually high rate

A rate well above the market often signals that a bank urgently needs money. In addition, the law allows the Fund not to compensate deposits on non-market terms if a person received them individually. You can compare a bank's rate with the UIRD average rate index, and how to choose between hryvnias and currency taking rates and devaluation into account is explained in our article on a hryvnia or dollar deposit.

Do not keep everything in one place

Even with full compensation, getting your money takes several weeks. An emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses is best split between two banks, or partly held in government bonds, so that one bank's failure does not leave you without access to money. How to build such a reserve is covered in our article on an emergency fund.

Read the deposit guarantee information sheet

Before you sign a contract, the bank must give you an information sheet on the deposit guarantee system: it states the Fund membership certificate number, the guaranteed amount and the exclusions. If the contract has unusual terms, for example the deposit is framed as an "investment" or a "loan", ask whether the Fund guarantees this particular product.

How to assess a bank's reliability

The Fund's guarantee removes most risks, but not all: getting your money takes weeks, and amounts above the limit could be lost after martial law. So it is useful to look at a few signs at least once a year:

• Size and stability. The NBU publishes data on each bank's assets, capital and deposits. A bank that has been among the largest for years is less often at risk.
• Resilience assessment results. The NBU assesses banks' resilience every year and publishes which banks need to raise capital.
• NBU fines and sanctions. News of large fines for financial monitoring breaches, restrictions on activity or demands to change management are a reason to look more closely.
• A rate well above the market. If a bank pays several points more than others, compare it with the average rate index and ask yourself why it needs the money so badly.
• Payment delays and new restrictions. Transfers that "hang" for days, sudden limits on cash withdrawals or early termination are warning signs.

None of these signs alone means a bank will fail. But if several coincide, it is sensible not to keep more than the guarantee limit there and to have a spare card at another bank.

Fraudsters who "help" recover a deposit

After every bank failure, "lawyers" and "Fund representatives" appear, promising to speed up payment or recover the amount above the guarantee for an upfront fee. Remember:

• the Fund pays the guaranteed amount itself, without intermediaries and without a fee;
• the Fund does not call asking for card details, a CVV or an SMS code;
• official information about payouts is only on the Fund's website, in Diia and at agent banks;
• an amount above the guarantee can only be recovered through a creditor claim to the liquidator, and no one can guarantee how much.

In short

• During martial law and for 3 months after it, the Fund compensates bank deposits in full with interest; after that, up to UAH 600,000 per person at one bank.
• Deposits, current and card accounts and sole proprietor accounts are guaranteed; bank metals, deposits on non-market terms, deposits of related persons and money in non-bank institutions are not.
• Currency deposits are compensated in hryvnias at the NBU official rate on the day before the procedure begins.
• Payouts start within 20 working days through agent banks and Diia; no application is needed for the guaranteed amount.
• Keep paying a loan at a failed bank to the details provided by the Fund.
• Split large sums between banks, leave room for interest and do not chase non-market rates.

Figures in this article

• Guaranteed deposit amount after martial lawUAH 600,000
  3 months after martial law ends
• Average rate on 12-month hryvnia deposits14.29%
  UIRD index, 30 Oct 2026
• NBU official dollar rate, UAH45.59
  29 Oct 2026

Checked against official sources on October 28, 2026. If a figure changes, we update the article and the «Updated» date changes automatically.

Sources

1. Law of Ukraine No. 4452-VI on the system of guaranteeing individuals' deposits: Articles 26 (guarantees and exclusions) and 27 (compensation procedure) (in Ukrainian)
2. Deposit Guarantee Fund - law raising the guaranteed amount to UAH 600,000 and full compensation during martial law (in Ukrainian)
3. Deposit Guarantee Fund - funds guaranteed by the Fund (in Ukrainian)
4. Mind - the Fund starts payouts to depositors of two insolvent banks: temporary administration from 20.02.2026, payouts from 12.03.2026, 100% compensation (in Ukrainian)
5. LIGA:ZAKON - getting a deposit back from a liquidated bank is now easier: the Fund updated its payout procedure (Decision No. 353 of 09.04.2026) (in Ukrainian)
6. Interfax-Ukraine - currency deposits are compensated in hryvnias at the NBU official rate on the day the bank is declared insolvent (in Ukrainian)
7. Finance.ua - does the Fund guarantee deposits in bank metals (in Ukrainian)

This material is for information only. Guarantee rules are set by law and by decisions of the Deposit Guarantee Fund; before making decisions about large sums, check the Fund's official guidance.