I have summarised the deposit options according to my assessment of their rough order of safety… As there is a lot of work in keeping this updated, check out www.itsyourmoney.ie which is kept up to date This is a complicated subject and corrections and clarifications are welcome. In particular, I have described some of the banks such as Leeds and KBC as solvent in their own right. Has anyone got any further information on these, which I could incorporate into the table? Or would anyone like to post a reply discussing the safety of the various banks on a case by case basis? The inherent safety of the bank is probably the most important decision in choosing a bank and the guarantee should be a back-up. Thus Rabobank which has a AAA rating is as safe as you can get whereas Anglo Irish Bank is depending entirely on the Irish government being able to meet its guarantee. Rabobank| Safe in its own right as it has a AAA rating|+ covered by the Dutch Scheme -100% of €100k _ Northern Rock| Irish Deposit Scheme €100k| + UK Scheme £100k+has recently been split into a good bank +owned by UK Govt NIB|Irish Deposit Scheme €100k|+Danish Guarantee €50,000 + owned by Danske a good bank_ Investec| UK Scheme 100% of £100,000|+ solvent in its own right Leeds Building Society| UK Scheme 100% of £100,000|+ solvent in its own right Nationwide UK| UK Scheme 100% of £100,000+ solvent in its own right _ Ulster Bank/First Active|Irish Deposit Scheme €100k|+84% owned by UK Govt KBC| Irish Deposit Scheme €100k|+ good bank in its own right Pfizer| Irish Deposit Scheme €100k|+ good bank in its own right Postbank| Irish Deposit Scheme €100k|+ good bank in its own right These are covered by the Irish Deposit Scheme but not by the unlimited Irish Government guarantee scheme The Irish government guarantees 100% of the liabilities of the Irish covered banks: Bank of Ireland/ICS |will probably be adequately capitalized shortly Permanent tsb|will probably be adequately capitalized shortly EBS |will probably be adequately capitalized shortly AIB|will probably be adequately capitalized shortly The following are relying solely on the Irish government guarantee and would be unable to repay their depositors without it: Anglo Irish Bank Irish Nationwide