This note examines the position of insured and uninsured bank deposit holders in
Europe in light of the recent EFTA court ruling and events in Cyprus. It considers
the merits of further harmonisation of existing national deposit guarantee
schemes and the adoption of a single deposit guarantee scheme. Further
progress toward a single resolution mechanism requires the specification how
uninsured deposit holders are to be treated in the event of a bank failure. This
note also considers the issues of whether uninsured depositors should be bailed in
and, if so, where they should be in the pecking order and also how much
flexibility national authorities should have in deciding their treatment
