Does China Have Deposit Insurance?

In short, yes! 

In May 2015, The Peoples Bank of China, the country’s central bank, began insuring individuals and companies for up to 500,000 RMB (~$80,000 USD). 

What is deposit insurance? Deposit insurance is a measure implemented in many countries to protect bank depositors from losses caused by a bank’s inability to pay its debts when due.

The Financial Stability Bureau, a division of china’s central bank, is in charge holding the title ‘Deposit Insurance Fund Manager’. The funding for this insurance is split between financial institutions of China who take deposits, who pay an annual premium of 0.01-0.02%, and direct government support. 

While ¥500,000 RMB is well below the FDIC’s $250,000 in the US, it is quite close to the €100,000 ‘standard’ found across Europe, and higher than most other countries in the Asian region.

Here’s a comparison chart of 31 countries with clear deposit insurance amounts: 

Since we are talking about China, I should bring up that most banks in the middle kingdom are either fully or majority government owned, and heavily regulated by said government.

This creates an extra layer of implicit insurance – because they have so much control and stake in the financial system, the Chinese government & central bank are going to do their very best make sure that their banks don’t fail and depositors are covered in times of financial duress.