As of January 1, 2010, protection for retail customers’ deposits will be limited to EUR 100.000 (previously EUR 20.000 per account holder/per bank). The deposit protection for small and medium-size enterprises was raised to EUR 50.000. Overall, a maximum of EUR 10 billion has been allotted to this measure.
The origins of the current crisis can be traced to both the build up of macro-global imbalances as well as the mispricing of risks in the financial system, which in turn, was encouraged by prolonged easy monetary policy and excess liquidity.