Central Bank has drafted a regulation setting out the procedure and terms for paying compensation on guaranteed deposits through the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
The document establishes procedures for preparing compensation payouts, determining which deposits are covered and calculating payout amounts, compiling a registry of depositors, and coordinating cooperation between the Fund, commercial banks, liquidators and agent banks.
Under the draft, an "guaranteeing event" is defined as the Central Bank's revocation of a bank's operating license coupled with a decision to place that bank into mandatory liquidation. Once such an event occurs, depositors become entitled to claim compensation from the Fund for their guaranteed deposits.
Compensation would be paid in local currency. For deposits held in foreign currency, the payout would be converted into soum at the Central Bank's exchange rate on the date the guaranteed event occurred.
The draft sets a cap of 200 million soums in compensation per depositor per bank. Deposits with a balance at or below that threshold would be reimbursed in full; balances exceeding 200 million soums would be compensated only up to the cap. Where a depositor holds multiple guaranteed deposits at the same bank, including in foreign currency, those balances would be combined — after conversion to soums — when calculating the total payout.
This 200-million-soum ceiling would apply to deposits placed by individuals, sole proprietors and legal entities from February 19, 2025 onward. Deposits placed by individuals before that date would generally not be subject to the cap, though the draft carves out certain exceptions to this rule.
Under the proposed regulation, deposits held by individuals, sole proprietors and legal entities in banks — in both local and foreign currency — would qualify as guaranteed. Accrued but unpaid interest on a bank deposit or account, up to the point the guaranteed event occurs, would also be covered under specified conditions.
Certain funds would be excluded from coverage altogether. These include deposits belonging to banks and other financial institutions, deposits held by state agencies and enterprises, deposits of individuals connected to the bank in question, deposits held at foreign subsidiaries or branches of the bank, and funds held in individual retirement savings accounts.
Individual depositors would be able to choose how they receive compensation — either as a transfer to an account opened at an agent bank or another bank of their choosing, or in cash. Legal entities would receive compensation via transfer to an account at another bank they designate.
Banking fees, transaction costs, IT expenses and other operating costs tied to processing compensation payments would be covered by the Fund itself and could not be deducted from the amounts owed to depositors.
The draft also sets deadlines for compensation payments. Once the regulation takes effect, the Fund would be required to ensure that at least three-quarters of depositors at a bank under liquidation can access their compensation within 15 working days of the guaranteed event. Starting January 1, 2027, that window would be shortened to seven working days.
Any compensation left unclaimed would remain the depositor's property, and could be claimed from the Fund at a later date.
Under the draft, the resolution approving the regulation would take effect three months after its official publication.
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