Repayment by the Fundo de Garantia de Depósitos will take place as soon as possible, without the need for the depositors to present any request, and by the most convenient means according to the situation (with preference being given to the use of bank transfer). 

Currently, the Fund has a maximum time frame of 10 working days, from the date on which the deposits became unavailable, to repay the depositors covered by the guarantee. However, with the Fund aiming to optimise and streamline its repayment methods, the maximum time frames for the Fund’s repayment of deposits have been successively reduced. As such, up to 31 December 2020, the maximum time frame was 15 working days and, from then onwards, the applicable time frames will be:

• 10 working days (from the date on which the deposits became unavailable), from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2023; 
• 7 working days (from the date on which the deposits became unavailable), from 1 January 2024.

Should the Fund have to make a repayment before 31 December 2023, a portion of up to 10 000 EUR of the deposits covered by its guarantee will be provided to depositors within the maximum time frame of seven working days.

Online repayment request system 

To increase the Fund’s operational capacity in responding to possible deposit repayment events, the Fund has, since early 2018, a dedicated IT system for these operations at its disposal, the RED. In practice, should the Fund be activated, an application accessible by internet will be provided to depositors, through which, after respective accreditation, they will be able to consult information on their deposits and interact with the Fund, including to indicate a bank account to which they wish the value repayable by the Fund to be transferred. The new repayment system is more streamlined and secure for reimbursements. The Fund will contact any depositors who are unable to use the application, based on the information to be provided by the member credit institution whose deposits have become unavailable, in order to repay the deposits. The preferred payment instrument for the repayment process is credit transfer, due to its security and auditability. However, other payment methods may be used.