European Deposit Insurance Scheme – the Third Missing Pillar for Completing the Banking Union

The recent global financial crisis revealed the weaknesses in the overall architecture of the single currency and Economic and Monetary Union. The creation of the European Banking Union is clearly the most significant step towards financial integration in Europe since the creation of the Monetary Union. Eurozone Member States have agreed to transfer responsibilities and powers to the supranational level at an unprecedented scale. At the European Union level has been established a Single Supervisory Mechanism with a Single Supervisor and a Single Resolution Mechanism with Single Resolution Fund for resolving failing financial institutions in the eurozone. As a final step to a fully-fledged Banking Union, in November 2015, the European Commission has proposed a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS) – the missing pillar of the Banking Union – which would provide a stronger and more uniform degree of insurance cover for all retail depositors in the Banking Union to boost citizens’ confidence in the banking sector. It is widely agreed that for a true Banking Union to be realised, the eurozone needs a single deposit guarantee scheme, in addition to the existing single supervisor mechanism and the single resolution fund. After having transferred supervision and resolution to the European level, this is the next logical step . In this article the author presents the changes in deposit guarantee schemes after the financial crisis and legal framework of EDIS as an essential complement to the European Banking Union construction.