When purchasing deposit-type product in a bank or credit union, customers increasingly face a wide variety of options with respect to such products. Whether the respective product is covered by the BFG guarantee is not always easy to determine. In practice, in order to make this determination, two factors need to be taken into consideration:
- first of all, the identity of the other party to an agreement that the customer is entering into. Simply because a customer concludes an agreement on location at a bank or credit union does not mean that the bank or credit union is party to the agreement. Often these entities act as intermediaries. If that is the case, when a customer acquires a certain instrument in that bank or credit union, he or she is actually entering into a legal agreement with another financial entity, e.g. an insurance company. Accordingly, it is crucial to identify the other party to the agreement. If the other party is not a bank or a credit union, then the deposit-type product is not covered by the BFG guarantee;
- secondly, whether the customer is entering into a bank account agreement – in the event of a bank -, or an account agreement – in the event of a cooperative savings and credit union.
That is why if in doubt, the customer should enquire with a bank/credit union employee about the category of the agreement. In practice, if the instrument in question is a “standard” deposit-type instrument, a term deposit or a current account, there is no cause for concern as all these are covered by the BFG guarantee.
