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The federal government is proposing to raise the deposit insurance limit under the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) to $250,000, its first increase in more than 20 years.
The measure, proposed in the 2026 budget, would “modernise the deposit insurance framework,” the government said.
The CDIC limit is the amount of a consumer’s deposits that is protected in the event of a bank failure.
Since 2005, that limit has sat at $100,000.
In 2023, the Bank and Trust Companies Association wrote to former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, urging the CDIC to double its coverage to $200,000 per depositor.
Canada has the lowest level of deposit insurance among G7 countries, a letter from the group said.
About 65 per cent of deposits at Canada’s top six banks — Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank, Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Scotiabank and National Bank of Canada — are uninsured, according to DBRS Morningstar.
In 2025, the Department of Finance said it would conduct a review of the deposit insurance limit and that “a deterioration of the real value of available coverage due to inflation,” the limit would need to be adjusted to $150,000 to protect the “real value” of deposit protection as it was set in 2005.
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At the same time, the department said a limit set at $250,000 per deposit category “would align with that of the United States and some Canadian provinces, and may provide better protection for non-retail depositors.”
As part of Budget 2026, the federal government said it proposes to legislate a periodic review of the deposit insurance framework every 10 years to ensure the CDIC “can access data to support evidence-based policy development” as well as “updating the framework so provincial trust and loan companies seeking to become a CDIC member may only do so by continuing as a federal trust and loan company.”
According to the CDIC’s 2025 annual report, it has 85 members.
As part of the proposed amendments to the CDIC, the government also plans to provide a temporary high balance for life events like selling a home and remove the deposit insurance limit for eligible deposits in registered and tax-free accounts.
With files from Reuters.
Stuff your…
Ben: the your beloved budget where the sun don’t shine.
Just noticed that my comments were removed. Great job……not. Our government doesn’t want everyone to know the truth.
@Try this. I quote from myself “The news of the oligopolistic banks being exposed to more competition is great news as well.” So there are two issues I mentioned here not one.
@Try this. Respectfully, did you read the budget? The budget is going to cut into the oligopoly the banks have.
The deposit insurance change and the changes to regulation of the banks are two different things.
Becauseiberals will collapse our Banking industry?
Probably…
I don’t have $10000 deposited in the bank let alone $250000, but I sure could use a tax break.
There’s no way Ben is a real person . Not a chance . A computer program to stoke division . Or at the very least if he is real , paid my the media or politicians on the left. Either way ignore it .
Like this helps any regular Canadian . There is not a single lever Canadians can use to actually get ahead in Canada. Not a single one . You can’t work more , they just take more . There is absolutely nothing to get further ahead. It would be as simple as only collecting income tax on your regular 40 hours week , or not taxing a second job . Reduce sales tax to only one either federal or provincial. But no , the liberals will just spend away and pack our country with now 750,000 more people a year . Which will strain everything from healthcare to shelter . Great job voters . Whoever thought a corporate banker running the country with our tax dollars was a good idea , should seek help your clearly intellectually challenged.
Well this nice if you had $250,000 just sitting in the bank most Canadians don’t
News just out Canada lost 4700 jobs in October. Three straight months of job losses and over 100,000 total. Great job Carney
I hope Canada fails. We deserve it.
@Ben. Did you even read the article or you just making up more fairy tales to promote your narrative on Carney.
Ben: this does nothing to make the Canadian banks more competitive. It does not increase the number of banks. It provides insurance if the bank fails. When was the last time a Canadian bank failed?
The year was 1996 and only 2,600 Canadians were affected. – so this is window dressing, just bringing things up to date. Like increasing car insurance maximum liability from 1 million to 2 million. The last time you were in an accident and the payout was 2 million was???
Do you understand productivity? Canada has a longer work week than the US.
It’s been common to have multiple accounts of $100,000 each……now…will need 2.5 x fewer separate accounts. Many portfolios have this function ‘automated’….a simple program change will bring it up to date!
Great news. The news of the oligopolistic banks being exposed to more competition is great news as well.
We need to make our economy more competitive by opening up regulated sectors to competition and getting rid of Provincial trade barriers.
Our productivity is what drives real wages and the government should focus on our abysmal productivity relative to our trading partners.