Australian Government Bank Guarantee: Which banks are included?

If you have your money deposited in any Australian bank, your money is guaranteed up to a total of $250,000. You're covered under the government guarantee if your bank (or building society, credit union) is an Authorised Deposit-Taking Institution (ADI). The regulator APRA maintains a list of these banks and institutions (we've listed them below).

The list of banks covered by the government's guarantee

Click on the sentences below to see the list of banks.

• Authorised deposit-taking institutions covered by the FCS

  • • Alex.Bank
    • AMP Bank Ltd
    • Arab Bank of Australia Limited
    • Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ)
    • Australian Military Bank Ltd
    • Australian Settlements Limited
    • Auswide Bank Ltd
    • Avenue Bank Limited
    • B&E Ltd (trading as Bank of us)
    • Bank Australia
    • Bank of China (Australia)
    • Bank of Queensland Ltd (including ME Bank)
    • Bank of Sydney Ltd
    • Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (including Bendigo Bank, Adelaide Bank, Tiimely Home, Up Bank and others)
    • Beyond Bank Australia (including Nexus Mutual)
    • BNK Banking Corporation (including Goldfields Money)
    • Cairns Penny Savings & Loans Limited (trading as Cairns Bank)
    • Central Murray Credit Union Limited
    • Central West Credit Union Limited
    • Coastline Credit Union Limited
    • Commonwealth Bank of Australia (including Bankwest)
    • Community First Credit Union
    • Credit Union Australia Ltd (trading as Great Southern Bank)
    • Defence Bank Limited
    • Dnister Ukrainian Credit Co-operative Limited
    • Family First Credit Union Limited
    • Fire Service Credit Union Limited
    • First Option Bank Ltd
    • Ford Co-operative Credit Society Limited (trading as Geelong Bank)
    • G&C Mutual Bank Limited
    • Gateway Bank Ltd
    • Goulburn Murray Credit Union Co-operative Limited
    • Heartland Bank
    • Heritage and People's Choice Limited (trading as Heritage Bank, People's Choice Credit Union and People First Bank)
    • Horizon Credit Union
    • HSBC Bank Australia Limited
    • Hume Bank Limited
      IMB Limited (trading as IMB Bank)
    • Illawarra Credit Union Limited
    • in1bank Ltd
    • Indue Ltd
    • ING Bank
    • Judo Bank
    • Laboratories Credit Union Limited
    • Lutheran Laypeople's League of Australia
    • Macarthur Credit Union Ltd (trading as THE MAC)
    • Macquarie Bank Limited
    • Maitland Mutual Limited (trading as The Mutual Bank)
    • Members Banking Group Limited (trading as RACQ Bank)
    • MyState Bank Limited
    • National Australia Bank Limited (inlcluding Ubank)
    • Newcastle Greater Mutual Group Ltd (trading as Newcastle Permanent, and Greater Bank)
    • Northern Inland Credit Union Limited
    • Orange Credit Union Limited (trading as Bank Orange)
    • Police Bank Ltd (trading as Border Bank and Bank of Heritage Isle)
    • Police Credit Union Ltd
    • Police Financial Services Limited (trading as BankVic)
    • Police & Nurses Limited (trading as P&N Bank)
    • Pulse Credit Union Ltd
    • QPCU Limited (trading as QBANK)
    • Qudos Bank
    • Queensland Country Bank Limited
    • Railways Credit Union Limited (trading as MOVE)
    • Regional Australia Bank Ltd
    • South West Slopes Credit Union Ltd (trading as SWSBANK)
    • Southern Cross Credit Union Ltd
    • Summerland Financial Services Limited (trading as Summerland Bank)
    • Suncorp-Metway Limited
    • Teachers Mutual Bank Limited (trading as Firefighters Mutual Bank, Health Professionals Bank, Hiver Bank, Teachers Mutual Bank and UniBank)
    • The Broken Hill Community Credit Union Ltd
    • The Capricornian Ltd
    • Traditional Credit Union Limited
    • Transport Mutual Credit Union Limited
    • Tyro Payments Limited
    • Unity Bank (trading as Reliance Bank, Bankstown City Unity Bank and Unity Bank)
    • Victoria Teachers Limited (trading as Bank First)
    • Warwick Credit Union Ltd (trading as Dalby Credit Union and Gympie Credit Union)
    • WAW Credit Union Co-Operative Limited (including BankWAW)
    • Westpac Banking Corporation (including St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA)
    • Woolworths Team Bank Limited

My bank is not on this list! Should I be worried?

Even if your bank is not in this list, it's almost certainly covered. The bank is probably owned by another bank and operates under its license.

For example, lender Tiimely Home, while not a bank, does offer offset accounts with its home loans. The lender is not listed above but it belongs to the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. Offset deposits are protected under the FCS.

If you're concerned, check your bank's website. It should mention the FCS in an FAQ, or the fine print at the bottom of the website may mention the bank's ownership structure.

How does the Australian government bank guarantee work?

After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the Australian government introduced the Financial Claims Scheme to protect the savings of ordinary Australians if a bank collapsed.

It's fairly simple. Your money in a bank account is safe even if your bank somehow collapses. Up to $250,000 per person, per bank is covered under the FCS.

Australian banks are already strictly regulated, and a collapse is incredibly unlikely, but the FCS is a further guarantee.

Under the FCS your deposits are safe at multiple banks

The FCS guarantees up to $250,000 per person, per Authorised Deposit-taking Institution. This means you could have up to $250,000 saved in multiple banks and it would all be covered.

If you have a partner and they have money saved separately, it's all protected.

Examples: When your savings are covered by the bank guarantee

• You have $200,000 saved at Bank A and a further $150,000 saved at Bank B. These are separate banks covered separately under the FCS. Your total of $350,000 is protected.
• You have $200,000 saved at Bank A. Your partner has $250,000 saved at the same bank in their name. All that money is covered by the bank guarantee.
• You and your partner have $400,000 saved together in one joint account and no other savings. All of this money is protected under the scheme.

Examples: When your savings are only partly covered by the bank guarantee

Sometimes banks operate under the same umbrella and may be considered a single ADI. For example:

• You have $200,000 deposited at Big Bank A. You have a further $100,000 deposited at Online Bank B, which is actually owned by Big Bank A. They're a single ADI under the FCS rules.
• You therefore have $300,000 saved in total with the same ADI.
• In an unprecedented event, Big Bank A collapses and takes Online Bank B with it. The government guarantee kicks in and $250,000 of your savings is safe.
• But the remaining $50,000 is not covered.

What types of accounts does the guarantee cover?

The government guarantee covers most deposit accounts, including:

What types of accounts aren't included in the guarantee?

• Share trading accounts (only the money you have sitting in a cash management account is covered)
• Debt and credit products
• Super fund accounts
• SMSF investments (unless you have money in cash with an ADI)
• Personal loan accounts
• Money on prepaid cards or gift cards

Is it possible your bank will go bankrupt?

Banks in Australia have closed down or collapsed, but it's very rare. The State Bank of South Australia collapsed in 1991, but deposits were backed by the state government.

Banks in Australia today are highly regulated. APRA, the bank regulator, requires banks to main adequate levels of capital to meet unexpected consumer demand for cash, or sudden falls in the economy. These standards are higher than international minimum requirements.

The FCS discourages bank customers from panicking on bad news and withdrawing deposits. Savings are protected even in a worst-case scenario.

The Xinja Example

The online bank Xinja is the rare example of an Australian bank closing in recent memory. Xinja launched in 2017 and offered savings accounts as an ADI with its own banking license.

But in 2020 it closed up due to a lack of funds. Closed, it should be stressed. It did not collapse.

Xinja customers had their savings returned promptly. Customers did not even need to rely on FCS protections.

But if the bank had collapsed instead of winding down in an orderly fashion, customers would have been covered by the government's guarantee.

How are joint accounts covered?

For joint accounts, each person is entitled to an individual guarantee. For example, for a joint account holding two people, the account is covered up to $500,000.

More questions about the Financial Claims Scheme

• Does the Australian Government Guarantee Scheme include non-residents?

  Yes, its does. The residency status of the account holder is irrelevant. If you're eligible and able to open an account and deposit money with a licensed ADI in Australia, then your deposit up to $250,000 is protected by the scheme.

• Is my SMSF bank deposit covered under the government guarantee?

  Yes, money held in an Australian ADI by an SMSF or trust is included in the scheme. The SMSF is considered to be one account holder, regardless of how many individual members or trustees are listed on the account. This means that if your SMSF has four members and there's a total of $500,000 in the bank account, it's treated as one account holder and only $250,000 is protected under the scheme.

  Because an SMSF is considered to be its own account holder, if you have a personal account in your name and also an SMSF cash account with the same ADI, both would be protected (up to $250,000 each).

• Are mortgages included in the government guarantee?

  Your mortgage is a loan from the bank, so it's not covered in the government guarantee. If in the unlikely event that your bank did fail, deposit holders would be covered by the government and mortgages will likely be transferred to a partner bank or lender.

• Are digital neobanks covered by the Australian Government Guarantee Scheme?

  Rest assured, digital banks need to go through a strict regulatory approval process to be granted an ADI license. If they're granted a full ADI license then they are included in the Government Guarantee Scheme and your deposit up to $250,000 is protected.

Compare bank accounts protected by the bank guarantee