The $100,000 CDIC limit is not one ceiling on everything you hold at a bank. Coverage applies separately to each insured category at each member institution, which means one institution can protect the same saver several times over, and a second institution can protect that much again — provided the deposits are arranged with the categories in mind. If you want the ground floor first (who the insurers are, and which institutions fall under CDIC rather than a provincial fund), start with our deposit insurance guide; everything below assumes a CDIC member institution.
One limit, many umbrellas
CDIC insures eligible deposits up to $100,000 per insured category, per member institution, principal and interest combined. The phrase doing the work is per insured category. Each category is a separate umbrella, and filling one does nothing to shrink the others.
| Insured category | What typically sits in it |
|---|---|
| Deposits in one name | Chequing, savings and GICs held individually |
| Deposits in more than one name | Joint accounts and joint GICs (one umbrella per unique set of owners) |
| Deposits in an RRSP | Savings deposits and GICs held inside an RRSP |
| Deposits in a RRIF | Savings deposits and GICs held inside a RRIF |
| Deposits in a TFSA | Savings deposits and GICs held inside a TFSA |
| Deposits in an FHSA | Savings deposits and GICs held inside an FHSA |
| Deposits in an RESP | Savings deposits and GICs held inside an RESP |
| Deposits in an RDSP | Savings deposits and GICs held inside an RDSP |
| Deposits held in trust | Deposits a trustee holds for beneficiaries (separate per-beneficiary rules apply) |
Two details are worth being exact about. First, principal and interest count toward the limit together, so a GIC bought at exactly $100,000 will finish its term partly above the umbrella; buying somewhat under the limit leaves room for the interest to stay covered. Second, the joint category covers each unique combination of owners once: a couple’s joint account gets one $100,000 umbrella for the pair, separate from each person’s individual coverage, rather than $100,000 per owner.
The same institution, covered four ways
How far can one institution stretch? In round numbers: suppose a saver holds $300,000 at a single CDIC member, split as $100,000 in a GIC in their own name (one-name category), $90,000 in GICs inside an RRSP (RRSP category), $60,000 in a TFSA savings deposit (TFSA category), and $50,000 in a joint account with a spouse (joint category). Four categories, four umbrellas, every dollar inside a limit, one institution. The example shows the structure, nothing more: contribution room in registered accounts is its own subject, and nobody should bend their accounts around insurance categories that don’t fit how they actually save.
The practical point is the order of operations. Before opening accounts somewhere new for coverage reasons, check whether the money already spans categories where it sits, or could with a small rearrangement.
When one institution isn’t enough
Categories do run out. If all the money is non-registered and in one name, a single institution offers one umbrella, and anything above $100,000 sits outside it. The straightforward fix is a second member institution: every CDIC member carries its own full set of categories, so the same saver starts fresh there.
Two cautions. Membership belongs to the legal institution, not the brand on the sign: some banking groups hold more than one CDIC membership, and some brands share a single membership between them, which changes how deposits add up. CDIC’s own member list is the authority on who is whom. How banks, credit unions and online brands relate to the legal entities behind them is a broader subject, covered in our guide to banks, credit unions and online banks.
The other practical route is a brokerage. A brokerage GIC shelf lets one account hold GICs issued by many different member institutions, each carrying its own coverage, without opening a login at every issuer. Deposits placed through a nominee broker remain CDIC-eligible when the broker records them correctly. Spreading, say, $500,000 across five issuers inside one account is routine there. How small each individual purchase can be is a separate question, covered in our GIC minimum deposits guide. When weighing issuers, the current GIC board shows many of them side by side.
What the coverage doesn’t reach
CDIC insures deposits, not investments. Mutual funds, stocks, bonds, ETFs and crypto assets are not covered, no matter where they were bought, including inside a TFSA or RRSP. The account type does not make an investment a deposit.
Market-linked GICs sit on the line: the principal is an insured deposit; any return is insured only as interest calculated under the deposit contract and accrued to the date of failure, so a projected market-linked return is not insured money. A saver counting a projected return as insured money is counting something the insurance does not yet see.
Two old exclusions are gone: since April 2020, foreign-currency deposits, including US-dollar savings accounts and GICs, and terms longer than five years are eligible. And the coverage asks nothing of you: protection is automatic and free to depositors, with premiums paid by member institutions.
Check the structure, then chase the rate
Deposit insurance sets the container; the rate decides what the container earns. Once the umbrellas are arranged, compare what institutions actually pay on the GIC board and the registered boards (TFSA, FHSA), and set a rate alert to be notified when a target rate is posted. The structure work is done once; the comparing repeats every time money matures.
Frequently asked questions
Is $100,000 the most CDIC will pay one person?
No. The limit applies per insured category at each member institution. One saver using several categories at one institution, or the same categories at two institutions, can have several hundred thousand dollars fully protected. The category table above is the map.
Do I need to register or pay for CDIC coverage?
No. Coverage is automatic on eligible deposits at member institutions, and the member institutions pay the premiums. There is nothing to sign up for; the only work on the saver’s side is keeping amounts inside the limits.
Are US-dollar GICs covered by CDIC?
Yes. Foreign-currency deposits became eligible in April 2020, which retired one of the oldest reasons to keep US-dollar savings out of Canadian deposit products. The per-category limit applies to the value of the deposit.
What happens to my deposits if the bank fails?
CDIC reimburses insured deposits automatically; there is no claim to file. The insured portion comes back without any action on your part, which is exactly why the category limits matter ahead of time: reimbursement follows the deposits as they are arranged when the failure happens, so the arranging has to come first.