What is the Government Guarantee?
The Australian Government has passed legislation to guarantee deposits of eligible authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADI) including Australian banks, building societies, credit unions and Australian subsidiaries of foreign-owned banks.
All deposits up to $1m will be guaranteed free of charge. For total deposits above $1m, the Federal Government will impose a fee of between 0.70% and 1.50% (based on the credit rating of an ADI) on every guaranteed dollar above the $1m threshold from 28 November 2008.
The Australian Government introduced the guarantee to match moves by international governments and keep Australia's financial services system competitive. It was not because it believed an Australian bank was likely to fail.