Another measure taken by the Austrian authorities concerns the safeguarding of bank deposits and the prevention of bank runs. For bank deposits of retail customers, a 100% state guarantee was put in place retroactively from October 1, 2008; this guarantee will be  4  BIS Review 82/2009  valid until the end of 2009.
He became finance minister in 1989 at a turning-point in post-war European history – when the Iron Curtain that divided Europe was being lifted; when the walls and barbed wire that divided Germany were being removed. It was a time of great hopes and expectations. But it was also a time of some anxiety.