What is the CDIC coverage limit in Canada?

CDIC insures eligible deposits up to $100,000 per depositor per category per member institution. There are seven separate deposit categories, each with its own $100,000 limit — meaning a single person can have up to $700,000 fully insured at one CDIC member bank by using all seven categories. Deposits at different CDIC member institutions are insured independently, so coverage can be multiplied across banks.

Are high-interest savings accounts CDIC insured?

Yes, if held at a CDIC member institution. A high-interest savings account at EQ Bank, Tangerine, Manulife Bank, or any other CDIC member is insured up to $100,000 in the depositor's name category. The account does not need to be a registered account — ordinary savings and chequing deposits at member institutions qualify. Online banks and direct banks that are subsidiaries of CDIC members are also covered; always verify membership at cdic.ca before assuming coverage.

Are credit unions covered by CDIC?

No. Credit unions are not federally chartered and are not CDIC members. They are covered by provincial deposit insurance corporations instead. Coverage varies significantly by province: Saskatchewan and Manitoba provide unlimited deposit insurance on all credit union deposits; Ontario's FSRA covers up to $250,000; BC's CUDIC covers $100,000; and Quebec's AMF covers $100,000. For large deposits, Manitoba and Saskatchewan credit unions — with unlimited coverage — are worth considering.

Is Wealthsimple covered by CDIC?

Wealthsimple itself is not a CDIC member — it is not a bank. However, Wealthsimple holds customer cash deposits at CDIC member institutions on behalf of clients, meaning the underlying deposits carry CDIC coverage. For Wealthsimple Cash account balances, the deposits are held at Canadian Schedule I banks that are CDIC members. Wealthsimple investments (stocks, ETFs, crypto) are not bank deposits and are not covered by CDIC; they may be covered by CIPF for the securities portion.

What deposits are NOT covered by CDIC?

CDIC does not cover: GICs or term deposits with a term longer than 5 years; foreign currency deposits (such as USD savings accounts — these fall under the foreign currency deposit category, which is a separate CDIC category with its own $100,000 limit); stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds; cryptocurrency; mortgage-backed securities; and deposits at non-member institutions including credit unions and most fintechs. Registered accounts like TFSAs and RRSPs are covered if the underlying deposits are eligible (cash and GICs ≤5 years) and held at a CDIC member.

How does CDIC cover joint accounts?

Joint deposits — accounts held in the names of two or more people — form a separate CDIC category with a combined limit of $100,000. This $100,000 covers the entire joint account, not $100,000 per person. Critically, joint account coverage is separate from each account holder's individual deposit coverage. For example, a couple with $100,000 in a joint savings account and $100,000 each in their personal savings accounts would have all $300,000 covered — the joint account qualifies under its own category, while each person's individual deposits qualify under their separate personal categories.

How many times has CDIC paid out depositors after a bank failure?

CDIC has handled 43 member institution failures since it was established in 1967. In every case, depositors within coverage limits received the full insured amount. No eligible depositor has ever lost money due to a CDIC member bank failure. The most significant historical failure was the Canadian Commercial Bank in 1985. In recent decades, failures have been extremely rare among CDIC members. This track record is the reason deposits at CDIC members are considered effectively risk-free up to the coverage limits.

What is the difference between CDIC and CIPF?

CDIC (Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation) covers bank deposits — savings accounts, chequing accounts, GICs up to 5 years — if a CDIC member institution fails. CIPF (Canadian Investor Protection Fund) covers investment accounts at member investment dealers — stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, and cash held in a brokerage account — if the dealer becomes insolvent. CIPF covers up to $1 million per account category. Crucially, neither CDIC nor CIPF protects against investment losses — they protect against the failure of the institution holding your money, not against market declines.

CDIC Deposit Insurance Canada 2026 | Coverage Limits Explained

The Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) is a federal Crown corporation that automatically insures eligible deposits — including savings accounts and GICs — at member financial institutions — at no cost to depositors. If a CDIC member bank fails, CDIC steps in to return insured deposits, typically within days. Since 1967, CDIC has paid out in full to every eligible depositor in every member bank failure. No eligible depositor has ever lost money as a result of a CDIC member failure.

Understanding how CDIC coverage works — particularly the category system — matters most when you hold more than $100,000 in deposits at a single institution. Structured correctly, a single person can have well over $500,000 fully insured at one bank. Structured incorrectly, large deposits at a single institution may be substantially underinsured.

How CDIC Coverage Works

CDIC does not insure a depositor up to $100,000 total. It insures up to $100,000 per deposit category per institution. There are seven separate deposit categories, each with its own $100,000 ceiling. Deposits that fall into different categories are insured independently — even if they are at the same bank.

This means a single person can have all seven categories at one CDIC member bank and, if each is fully funded, have $700,000 of deposits fully insured. The coverage is cumulative across all seven separate buckets.

The Seven CDIC Deposit Categories

Category	Coverage Limit	Typical Accounts
Deposits in your name (personal)	$100,000	Personal chequing, personal savings
Joint deposits	$100,000	Joint savings account (total, not per person)
TFSA deposits	$100,000	TFSA savings, TFSA GICs ≤5 years
RRSP deposits	$100,000	RRSP savings, RRSP GICs ≤5 years
RRIF deposits	$100,000	RRIF savings and eligible deposits
FHSA deposits	$100,000	First Home Savings Account deposits
RESP deposits (per beneficiary)	$100,000	Per child named as beneficiary

Each category is insured separately. A $100,000 TFSA and a $100,000 personal savings account at the same bank are both fully covered — they do not share a limit.

What Is and Is Not Covered

Eligible Deposits

CDIC covers Canadian-dollar deposits with a fixed term of five years or less. The main eligible products are:

Savings accounts (standard and high-interest)
Chequing accounts
GICs and term deposits with terms of five years or less
Money orders and bank drafts issued by a CDIC member
Debentures issued by loan companies that are CDIC members

The five-year rule on GICs is important. A one-year GIC is covered. A three-year GIC is covered. A six-year GIC is not — the term exceeds five years. When building a GIC ladder, keep all individual terms at five years or under to maintain coverage.

Foreign currency deposits (USD savings accounts, for example) are covered under a separate foreign currency deposit category with its own $100,000 limit (converted to CAD at the time of failure). This is frequently misunderstood — USD deposits at CDIC members are insured, but in a category separate from CAD deposits.

Not Covered by CDIC

GICs or term deposits with terms exceeding five years
Stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, and other investment securities
Cryptocurrency and digital assets
Deposits at non-member institutions (credit unions, many fintechs)
Investments held in a brokerage account (these may be covered by CIPF instead)

CDIC does not protect against investment losses of any kind — it only activates if the institution itself fails.

CDIC Member Institutions

CDIC membership is limited to federally chartered banks and federally regulated trust and loan companies. All of Canada’s Big 5 banks are CDIC members, as are most major online banks.

Major banks (all CDIC members): RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, National Bank, HSBC (now RBC), Laurentian Bank

Online banks (CDIC members): EQ Bank (Equitable Bank), Tangerine (Scotiabank subsidiary), Simplii Financial (CIBC subsidiary), Manulife Bank, Oaken Financial (Home Bank), Alterna Bank, Motusbank

Not CDIC members: All provincial credit unions; most fintechs and neobanks that are not federally chartered banks; Wealthsimple (as a company — though it holds client cash at CDIC members)

To verify whether a specific institution is a CDIC member, search the member list at cdic.ca. CDIC members are also required to display the CDIC logo in their branches and on their websites. If you cannot find a clear CDIC membership indication, assume the institution is not covered and verify before depositing large amounts.

Credit Unions: Provincial Coverage Varies Significantly

Credit unions are regulated provincially, not federally, and are covered by provincial deposit insurance corporations rather than CDIC. The coverage levels vary dramatically by province — from $100,000 in some provinces to unlimited coverage in others.

Province	Insurance Body	Coverage
BC	Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation (CUDIC)	$100,000
Alberta	Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation	$100,000
Saskatchewan	Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation	Unlimited
Manitoba	Deposit Guarantee Corporation of Manitoba	Unlimited
Ontario	Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA)	$250,000
Quebec	Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF)	$100,000
New Brunswick	New Brunswick Credit Union Deposit Insurance	$250,000

Saskatchewan and Manitoba credit unions offer unlimited deposit insurance on all deposits — a coverage level that no CDIC-insured institution can match, since CDIC caps at $100,000 per category. For a depositor with a very large cash balance that exceeds what CDIC categories can cover across multiple institutions, a Manitoba or Saskatchewan credit union warrants consideration on insurance grounds alone.

How Much Can One Person Have Insured at a Single Bank?

Using all seven CDIC categories, a single individual can have up to $700,000 fully insured at one CDIC member institution. In practice, not everyone has eligible deposits in all seven categories, so the realistic figure depends on which registered accounts you hold. A common example for a couple:

Account	Balance	Category	Covered
Personal savings	$100,000	Personal	✅
Joint savings	$100,000	Joint	✅
TFSA	$100,000	TFSA	✅
RRSP	$100,000	RRSP	✅
RRIF	$100,000	RRIF	✅
FHSA	$100,000	FHSA	✅
Total at one bank	$600,000		Fully covered

This is why the “CDIC only covers $100,000” framing is incomplete — the category system makes CDIC far more generous than the single headline figure suggests.

Strategies for Deposits Over the Coverage Limits

If your total deposits exceed what one institution’s category system can cover, the solution is to distribute across multiple CDIC member institutions. Coverage at each institution is entirely independent — the same seven categories apply at each bank, each with their own $100,000 limit.

For a high-net-worth individual with $1 million in GIC savings, for example: holding all $1 million at one institution would cover only $100,000 in the personal category. Splitting into five $200,000 parcels across five CDIC members — or using registered account categories at two banks — can bring the full balance within insured limits.

The practical approach for large GIC portfolios is a GIC ladder spread across multiple institutions. You hold GICs at EQ Bank, Oaken Financial, and Manulife Bank simultaneously — each under the per-institution coverage limit — earning competitive rates at each, with full CDIC coverage across the portfolio.

For joint accounts, it is worth understanding that the $100,000 joint category limit applies to the account total, not per person. A joint account with $200,000 would have only $100,000 insured. The fix is to ensure the joint balance stays within $100,000, or to split between joint and individual personal accounts (which have their own separate limits).

CDIC vs CIPF: Two Different Protections

CDIC and CIPF (Canadian Investor Protection Fund) are frequently confused because they both protect financial accounts, but they cover entirely different situations and entirely different account types.

CDIC covers bank deposits (savings, chequing, GICs) at member banks if the bank becomes insolvent. It covers up to $100,000 per category.

CIPF covers investment accounts (stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, cash in a brokerage account) at member investment dealers if the dealer becomes insolvent. CIPF covers up to $1 million per account category.

Neither protects against losses in the value of your investments. If your stocks decline in market value, neither CDIC nor CIPF provides any compensation — they protect only against the institution itself failing. CIPF also does not cover crypto assets.

What Happens When a CDIC Member Fails

CDIC is activated when a member institution is closed by the federal government regulator. CDIC then either transfers eligible deposits to another financial institution (so depositors can access their funds immediately at a new bank) or makes a direct payout by cheque or electronic transfer to each eligible depositor.

In most historical cases, the transfer method has been used — meaning depositors access their money within days with minimal disruption. The payout method, where CDIC sends cheques directly, has been used for smaller failures where a transfer to a surviving institution was not practical.

The 43 failures since 1967 include primarily smaller trust companies and mortgage loan companies from the 1980s and early 1990s, a period of higher financial stress in the sector. The most recognizable failure was the Canadian Commercial Bank (1985). None of Canada’s Big 5 banks or major online banks have failed as CDIC members.

Verifying Your Coverage

CDIC offers a deposit insurance estimator tool at cdic.ca that allows you to enter your deposit balances by category and see your estimated coverage at a single institution. It is worth using if you hold more than $100,000 in deposits at any single bank.

To confirm whether a specific institution is a CDIC member: search the member registry at cdic.ca, or look for the CDIC logo displayed at branches or on the institution’s website. CDIC membership is mandatory disclosure — members must show the logo.