Deposit insurance in Georgia: how safe is your money at Georgian banks?

Anyone thinking about an account in Georgia sooner or later asks what happens to the money if the bank in Tbilisi goes bust. The answer lies in Georgia's state deposit insurance: a statutory fund that the banks finance themselves and that a dedicated agency manages. It is much younger and smaller than the European system, but it exists, it covers foreigners, and it has been topped up several times in recent years. Five points decide: the size of the limit, who is covered, how quickly the payout comes, where the money comes from and in which currency it arrives.

How high is the limit, and since when has it applied?

The short answer: GEL 50,000 (Georgian lari) per depositor and per bank, valid since 1 April 2026, according to the Deposit Insurance Agency, Georgia's deposit insurance authority. At the National Bank's official rate of 31 October 2026 that is around €17,170 or around $19,240. The legal basis is the Law of Georgia on the Deposit Insurance System in the official legal portal Matsne. The system started on 1 January 2018 with a limit of just GEL 5,000. Since then the agency has raised it in stages, as it documents on its page About System:

The last step is already on its way. At its meeting on 24 September 2026 the agency's supervisory board supported the decision to raise the limit to GEL 100,000 from 1 January 2027; the agency published this on 28 September 2026. No change in the law is needed: under Article 16 of the deposit insurance law, the agency decides on the limit in agreement with its supervisory board, the head of the agency sets it by legal act, and an increase takes effect three months after the decision, earlier only if financial stability requires it.

At the rate of 31 October 2026, GEL 100,000 would be around €34,350. That is a big jump compared with the start, but still only about a third of the European limit.

Who is covered, and which deposits

According to the agency (Who is insured?) the following applies:

• Residents and non-residents are treated alike. Anyone who lives in the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark or Finland and holds an account in Georgia is covered just like a customer from Tbilisi.
• Individuals and legal entities: at first only individuals were protected; since 1 January 2022 companies and other organisational units are too.
• All account types: current accounts, card accounts, demand deposits, fixed deposits and certificates of deposit.
• All currencies: lari, US dollars, euros and every other currency are covered under the same rules.
• All banks: every commercial bank and every microbank licensed in Georgia is automatically a member. You do not need to apply for anything; the cover applies by law.

Excluded are deposits the holder may not freely dispose of under Georgian law, such as amounts pledged as loan collateral or seized. Also excluded are deposits of a bank's management and their family members, of shareholders with at least 5% of the capital and their families, and deposits of financial institutions and administrative bodies.

The calculation rule is important: all accounts at the same bank are added together, whatever the currency, and then reimbursed up to GEL 50,000. Accounts at different banks, on the other hand, are covered separately, each up to the full limit.

What happens in an emergency: payout within 20 days

The insured event begins with an official declaration by the National Bank of Georgia that a commercial bank or microbank is being liquidated. From then on the procedure runs as the agency describes it in its reimbursement procedure:

1. The declaration appears on the websites of the National Bank and the agency.
2. Within five days the agency publishes the details: the start date of the payout, the branches of the paying bank and the documents required.
3. From institutions designated in advance, the agency selects another Georgian commercial bank as the paying agent. It pays on the agency's behalf, in cash or by transfer, and may offer you a new account for this.
4. The payout starts no later than 20 days after the insured event. Article 19(4) of the law obliges the agency to calculate and pay the amount within 20 calendar days.
5. You have three years to claim. After that the amount goes to the National Bank, which continues to reimburse under Georgian law.

The agency itself writes that the deadline is to be shortened gradually to seven days, in line with international practice. It gives no date for this.

Anything above GEL 50,000 is not reimbursed by deposit insurance. That part is served under the general rules of Georgian law from the bank's liquidation, as a claim against the bank in resolution, with no fixed deadline and no promise of how much will come back in the end.

Where the money comes from: the deposit insurance fund

The payouts come from the deposit insurance fund, which the agency manages under the law (Deposit Insurance Fund). It is fed from three sources:

• One-off contribution: every bank paid in GEL 100,000 once in December 2017; new banks pay the same amount within 30 days of receiving their licence.
• Regular premiums: since 1 July 2020 banks pay monthly. Since 2021 the agency, together with the National Bank, sets a risk-based premium for each bank, which is not published. By law it is capped at 0.067% of covered lari deposits and 0.1% of covered foreign currency deposits per month. For September 2026 all banks together paid GEL 7,357,192.
• Special contributions: if the fund is not enough in an insured event, the banks must pay in more, at most 1% of covered deposits per calendar year.

If even that is not enough, the agency may, according to its FAQ, borrow from the state and from Georgian and international financial institutions. It invests the fund's assets only in lari securities of the Georgian state, the National Bank and international financial organisations. The agency's overview of its government bond purchases shows purchases since 2022 with a combined nominal value of around GEL 460 million, most recently on 20 October 2026.

As a target size, Article 11(4) of the law prescribes 6% of covered deposits. Measured against covered deposits at the end of September 2026, that would be around GEL 973 million. The agency does not publish a current total size of the fund separately on its website; the bond table only shows the invested part.

How much money in the system is actually covered

The agency regularly publishes how much of the deposits falls under the insurance. As of 30 September 2026 the country's 19 banks held a total of GEL 79.32 billion. Of this, GEL 16.22 billion was covered, around 20%.

The breakdown is more interesting. For individuals, around GEL 14.78 billion of GEL 39.74 billion was covered, a good 37% of the volume. For companies it was only GEL 1.44 billion of GEL 39.58 billion, less than 4%. Most small savers are therefore fully protected; large balances and corporate money mostly sit above the limit.

Comparison with the EU's €100,000

In the EU, deposit protection is governed by Directive 2014/49/EU, which applies to readers in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. For UK readers the yardstick at home is the FSCS limit of £120,000. The EU's key points side by side with Georgia:

Two points stand out. First, the Georgian limit is considerably lower even after the increase in January. Second, the statutory target size of the Georgian fund relative to covered deposits is much higher than the EU's minimum. That makes sense: a small banking system with a few large institutions needs a thicker cushion, because the failure of a single bank can affect a large share of covered deposits. Where the EU is heading on high balances and payout deadlines is set out in the EU reform of deposit protection; how Georgia compares with Switzerland, the USA, the UK and Singapore in deposit guarantees worldwide.

The currency risk: lari against euro and dollar

The limit is set in lari, and the payout is always made in lari. If your money is in euros or dollars, the agency, according to its FAQ, converts it into lari at the National Bank's official rate on the day of the insured event and pays out at most GEL 50,000. That has two consequences.

First, the value of the limit in euros moves with the exchange rate. The official rates of the National Bank of Georgia show this clearly:

The lari has gained against the euro over the past year, so the limit has risen in euro terms without any decision at all. It can run the other way too. At the end of 2014 and in 2015 the lari lost heavily: on 3 November 2014 one US dollar cost GEL 1.7542 according to the National Bank, on 31 December 2015 already GEL 2.3949. A lari balance had thus lost a good quarter of its dollar value within 14 months. Later it went the other way: on 30 October 2021 the euro stood at GEL 3.6828, today at 2.9116.

Second, in an emergency you carry an exchange risk even if your account is held in euros. An example at the rate of 31 October 2026: you have €30,000 at a Georgian bank. Converted, that is around GEL 87,350. Deposit insurance pays GEL 50,000 in lari, around €17,170, which you have to change back yourself. The remaining equivalent of around GEL 37,350 is a claim in the liquidation proceedings. Anyone who holds their reserve in euros to avoid the lari should know that the insurance returns to lari at exactly this point.

How interest and currency risk interact with a Georgian account is explained in detail in opening a bank account in Georgia.

Frequently asked questions about deposit insurance in Georgia

Am I covered as a resident of the UK or the Nordic countries? Yes. Georgian deposit insurance applies expressly to non-residents, individuals and companies alike, without an application and free of charge.

Is a dollar or euro account covered? Yes, on the same terms as a lari account. The payout, however, is made in lari, converted at the National Bank's rate on the day of the insured event.

How quickly do I get my money? The law prescribes 20 calendar days after the insured event. Payment is made through another Georgian bank, in cash or by transfer.

Is my company account in Georgia covered too? Yes, since 1 January 2022, with the same limit per bank. Financial institutions and administrative bodies are excluded.

Is it worth spreading money across several Georgian banks? If you hold more than the limit in Georgia, a second bank doubles the covered amount, because each bank is covered separately.

What this means in practice for your account in Georgia

Georgian deposit insurance is a real, statutory system with clear deadlines and a fund paid for by the banks. It protects small and medium balances, foreigners included, and it is being expanded substantially right now. It is no substitute for the EU's €100,000 or the UK's £120,000, neither in size nor in the currency of the payout.

Three simple rules follow. Where possible, hold no more than the limit per bank if you want to rely on deposit insurance: GEL 50,000 today, GEL 100,000 from January 2027, paid out in lari. Spread larger amounts across several institutions, because each bank has its own limit. And assess the bank itself: capital, size, supervision and ratings say more about the safety of a six-figure balance than any insurance limit.

Everything else about Georgia, from the opening process to the reporting status, is brought together in the Georgia overview with account opening and packages and in Georgia banking 2026. If you want to know how much you should hold in Georgia and how that fits with your other accounts, we clarify it in a free consultation.