The total value of deposits covered by Hong Kong’s Deposit Protection Scheme rose to a record HK$3.656 trillion in 2025, up from HK$3.492 trillion a year earlier, according to the Hong Kong Deposit Protection Board’s annual report.
The increase followed the raising of the protection limit from HK$500,000 to HK$800,000 in October 2024.
The Board said the change initially lifted the total value of deposits covered by the scheme by 35%, before the amount climbed a further 5% by October 2025.
The scheme now fully protects 92.5% of depositors’ balances, a level the Board said places Hong Kong in line with international standards.
As of the end of March 2026, the scheme had 147 members, including 32 banks incorporated locally and 115 incorporated outside Hong Kong.
Retail banks held HK$3.55 trillion, or 97%, of protected deposits, while wholesale banks accounted for the remaining 3%.
The top 20 scheme members held 95% of the industry’s total protected deposits, while the five largest accounted for 70%.
Under the scheme, each depositor’s total deposits with a member bank are protected automatically up to HK$800,000.
The scheme covers deposits denominated in Hong Kong dollars, renminbi and other currencies.
Structured deposits, offshore deposits, term deposits with maturities longer than five years, bonds, stocks, mutual funds, insurance policies, virtual assets and stored-value facilities fall outside its scope.
The Deposit Protection Scheme Fund had assets of HK$8.9 billion at the end of March 2026. About 23% of the fund was invested in Exchange Fund papers and 44% in U.S. Treasuries, while the remainder was predominantly held in Hong Kong dollar deposits.
The fund achieved an investment return of 3.45% for the year.
Contributions collected from scheme members for 2026 amounted to HK$871 million, a 5% increase from 2025. The top 20 members accounted for about 94% of the total contributions.
The Board also conducted a full-scale payout rehearsal during 2025-2026 under a simulated bank failure scenario.
The exercise showed that compensation could be paid to most eligible depositors within the Board’s seven-day target, with electronic payments accelerating disbursement by one to two days compared with paper cheques.
A major payout drill planned for the year ahead will focus on the use of the Faster Payment System for disbursing compensation in the event of a bank failure.
The Board’s annual opinion survey showed that public awareness of the scheme remained at 80%, while confidence in the scheme reached a record 86.7%.