Government guarantee on deposits with Sydney Mutual Bank

Your savings are safe with Sydney Mutual Bank under the Government Guarantee on Deposits. As a mutual bank, our sector is highly regulated under the Banking Act 1959 by the same regulator as the major banks (the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority - APRA), and is subject to the same prudential policy and supervision framework.

Authorised by APRA as an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution (ADI), Australian Mutual Bank Ltd operating as Sydney Mutual Bank and Endeavour Mutual Bank is covered by the Financial Claims Scheme. This Australian regulation provides a Government guarantee to protect deposits up to $250,000 for each account holder, per ADI.

What is the Financial Claims Scheme?
The Financial Claims Scheme (FCS), also known as Australian Government Deposit Guarantee, is an Australian Government scheme that provides protection and quick access to deposits in banks, building societies and credit unions in the unlikely event that one of these financial institutions fails. Under the FCS, certain deposits are protected up to a limit of $250,000 for each account holder at any bank, building society, credit union or other ADI that is incorporated in Australia and authorised by the APRA.

What types of accounts are covered under the Financial Claims Scheme?
The Financial Claims Scheme (FCS) applies to a wide range of deposit accounts held with banks, building societies and credit unions (also known as authorised deposit-taking institutions or ADIs) that are incorporated in Australia, but only applies to deposit accounts with funds in Australian dollars. Under the FCS, deposits are protected up to a limit of $250,000 per account holder per ADI.

Sydney Mutual Bank accounts covered under the scheme include:

• Savings accounts
• Transaction accounts
• Term deposits
• Mortgage offset accounts
• Retirement savings accounts

How is the Financial Claims Scheme limit applied?
The FCS limit of $250,000 applies to the sum of an account holder's deposits under the one banking license. Therefore, all deposits held by an account holder with a single banking institution must be added together towards the $250,000 FCS limit, and this includes accounts with any other banking businesses that the licenced banking institution may operate under a different trading name.

Australian Mutual Bank Ltd operates as:

• Sydney Mutual Bank 
• Endeavour Mutual Bank

under which accounts would be aggregated for the purposes of determining the FCS entitlement when generating the Single Customer View (SCV).

Who is an account holder under the Financial Claims Scheme?
An account holder under the FCS can be: 

• an individual
• a body corporate (i.e. a corporation or propriety limited company)
• a body politic
• a partnership
• any other unincorporated association or body of persons
• the trustee(s) of a trust
• the trustee(s) of a superannuation fund (including a self-managed superannuation fund)
• the trustee(s) of an approved deposit fund.

Each account holder type listed above is entitled to protection for deposits up to $250,000 per ADI. Please note that a group of individual trustees of a trust, superannuation fund or approved deposit fund are treated as a single account holder. 

The citizenship or residency status of an account holder does not have an impact on whether a deposit account is covered under the FCS. 

How are joint account holders treated under the Financial Claims Scheme? 
For joint accounts, the amount of FCS protection is determined by splitting the deposit equally between the account holders. Each account holder's share is then added to any other eligible deposits they may hold under their own name at the same bank, building society or credit union before the $250,000 FCS limit is then applied to the total for each individual.  

If I have deposits of up to $250,000 in more than one bank, credit union or building society, will they all be covered under the Financial Claims Scheme?
The FCS protects deposits up to $250,000 per account holder at each separate bank, building society or credit union (also known as authorised deposit-taking institutions, or ADIs). So a person can have up to $250,000 in deposit accounts with a number of different ADIs, and they will all be protected by the FCS.

How is the Financial Claims Scheme activated? 
The FCS can only come into effect if it is activated by the Australian Government when an institution fails. Once activated, the FCS will be administered by APRA. In an FCS scenario, APRA would aim to pay the majority of customers their protected deposits under the Scheme within seven calendar days.

Where can I get further information on the Financial Claims Scheme?
More information on the FCS is available on the FCS website.