What the guarantee covers
If a bank fails, a deposit guarantee scheme pays back the money you held there. In the Netherlands that scheme is run by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). DNB says your money is protected automatically, "from 1 cent up to €100,000", and that the protection "applies per person, per bank" (DNB, checked 5 Oct 2026). It covers payment accounts, savings accounts and fixed-term deposits.
The same €100,000 applies in every EU country. The EU deposit guarantee directive sets the coverage level for "the aggregate deposits of each depositor" at €100,000, and says the money must be available "within seven working days" (Directive 2014/49/EU, articles 6 and 8, checked 5 Oct 2026).
Three details matter in practice:
- Brands of one bank share one limit. DNB: the money in accounts you hold with different brand names of the same bank "is added together". ASN Bank's information sheet, for example, says one €100,000 covers ASN, SNS, RegioBank and BLG Wonen together (ASN Bank, checked 4 Oct 2026).
- Joint accounts count per holder. DNB's example: with a joint account, you and your partner are protected up to €200,000 together, so a joint balance of €120,000 is €60,000 each. Unless something else was agreed, EU law divides a joint account equally among the holders (directive, article 7(2)). Each holder's share counts towards that person's own €100,000 at that bank (more in joint accounts).
- Large one-off amounts get extra cover for a while. Money from the sale of your own home, and some payments such as a severance payment, a pension lump sum or an insurance payout, is protected up to an extra €500,000 per person per bank for six months from the day it was paid in. You have to tell DNB about it yourself once the scheme has been activated (DNB FAQ, checked 5 Oct 2026).
If a Dutch bank fails, DNB says it opens a website within seven working days where you log in with DigiD and give an account number to be paid into (DNB, checked 5 Oct 2026). Another reason to set up DigiD soon after you arrive.
What is not covered
DNB: the protection "does not apply to investment products, such as shares and bonds, insurance products and virtual currencies such as bitcoin". That matters for some products sold next to savings accounts:
- Money market funds. Wise Interest invests your money "in a money market fund", and Wise says "your money is at risk and you could get back less than you put in" (Wise, checked 5 Oct 2026). Wise is not a bank; it says its customers' assets are eligible for up to €20,000 of protection under the Estonian Guarantee Fund (Wise, checked 5 Oct 2026). That is investor protection, not a deposit guarantee.
- Part of a broker's cash. Trade Republic spreads cash over partner banks and, for higher balances, also into liquidity funds, and says "for liquidity funds, deposit guarantee schemes do not apply" (Trade Republic, checked 5 Oct 2026). Scalable Capital can hold cash in money market funds unless you are on its paid PRIME+ plan (Scalable Capital, checked 4 Oct 2026), which is why we list its guarantee as "Depends".
It follows the bank's licence, not your address
Which country's scheme protects you depends on where the bank is licensed. DNB: if a foreign bank serves you through a branch, your money is protected by "the deposit guarantee of the country from which the bank operates"; a foreign bank's subsidiary with a Dutch licence counts as a Dutch bank (DNB, checked 5 Oct 2026).
For the banks expats use most, this is what the providers' own documents say:
- bunq is a Dutch bank: the Dutch scheme (bunq, checked 4 Oct 2026).
- Revolut serves Dutch customers through the Dutch branch of Revolut Bank UAB, which is insured by Lithuania's deposit insurance (Revolut, checked 5 Oct 2026). Its savings terms add that savings may instead be held at Deutsche Bank as trust bank, then covered by the German scheme, depending on your plan, your country and when you opened the account (Revolut savings terms, checked 4 Oct 2026).
- N26 is N26 Bank SE: the German scheme (N26, checked 4 Oct 2026).
- Trade Republic holds cash in trust accounts at partner banks, and each of those accounts is protected up to €100,000 under the partner bank's own scheme (Trade Republic, checked 5 Oct 2026).
- Openbank (Spain), Bigbank (Estonia) and Klarna (Sweden) are covered by their home countries' schemes; Sweden's limit is set in kronor, SEK 1,150,000 (Klarna, checked 4 Oct 2026).
Every EU scheme covers the same €100,000. What differs is which organisation pays you out, and in which language you deal with it.
How Raisin works
Raisin is a platform, not a bank where your savings sit. Its terms say Raisin "is geen kredietinstelling" (is not a credit institution) and is not a member of a deposit guarantee scheme. You open a Raisin account, which is a payment account at Raisin Bank AG, a German bank, and from there you place savings with Raisin's partner banks (Raisin terms, June 2026, checked 5 Oct 2026). Money at a partner bank is protected up to €100,000 per account holder by the scheme of the country where that bank is established (Raisin, checked 5 Oct 2026): FCM Bank, for example, falls under Malta's scheme (Raisin, checked 4 Oct 2026).
How to stay inside the guarantee
- Keep no more than €100,000 per person at one banking licence, counting every brand of that bank and your share of joint accounts.
- Before you open an account, read the bank's depositor information sheet (informatieblad depositogarantiestelsel). EU law requires every bank to give you one, naming the scheme that covers you (directive, article 16).
- Check whether a product is a deposit or a fund. "Interest" in an app does not make it a savings account.
Our savings account comparison shows the guarantee for every account, with the scheme and country on each account's page and the provider's document as the source. Savings accounts with a deposit guarantee ranks only the fully covered ones. For where the rates are highest, see this month's savings rates.