Deposit Protection Fund operations
The Deposit Protection Fund is a legal entity established by the Deposit Protection Act (National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 118/1996 Coll.), representing the institutional part of the statutory deposit protection system in the Slovak Republic.
Main task of DPF is the protection of deposits held by private individuals and legal entities in banks participating in the Slovak deposit protection system and the disbursement of compensation for claims resulting from inaccessible legally protected deposits in the event that a bank becomes unable to pay out deposits to deposit holders. A deposit is considered inaccessible if it is deposited in a bank that has been declared insolvent by the National Bank of Slovakia, or deposited with a bank in which the handling of deposits has been suspended due to a bankruptcy court decision issued as part of bankruptcy proceedings. In such instance, the Deposit Protection Fund will pay out depositors’ claims on protected deposits in the bank primarily from the funds collected by the Fund in the form of banks’ contributions. The Deposit Protection Fund has other alternatives defined by the Deposit Protection Act to obtain additional funding for compensation payments.
Banks domiciled in Slovakia are obliged to contribute to the Deposit Protection Fund from the date of acceptance of the first legally protected deposit. Branches of Slovak banks operating abroad have deposits protected by the Slovak deposit protection system. Branches of foreign banks operating in Slovakia, which enjoy the benefits of a single banking license under European Union law, have deposits protected by the home deposit protection system in the country where the foreign bank has its registered office.
For more information about contributors to the Deposit Protection Fund, see the Deposit Protection Scheme Participants section and about deposit protection in the Compensation payments section.
The Fund also performs operations related to the management of funds held by the National Crisis Resolution Fund (National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 371/2014 Coll.), including the collection of contributions, maintaining records of these funds and their transfer to the European Single Resolution Fund. The Fund may be involved in addressing a possible crisis situation involving banks, in particular through the use of its funds. The role of the Fund is also to carry out professional, organizational, administrative and technical tasks in accordance with the Deposit Protection Act and in relation to other related legal regulations.
More detailed information on procedure for handling of crisis situations on the financial market can be found on the National Bank of Slovakia website.
The fund is not a state-owned fund, it is not financed from the state budget and it is not designated for business purposes. It is subject to supervision carried out, in accordance with the Deposit Protection Act, by the National Bank of Slovakia. Statistically, the Fund is classified as a public administration body.
The Deposit Protection Fund cooperates mainly with the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, the National Bank of Slovakia, the Slovak Banking Association, selected foreign funds and other domestic and foreign institutions. For more information, see International activities and Useful Links.