JDIC Survey Reveals High Level of Protection for Depositors

The annual survey of insurable deposits in the banking system, conducted by the Jamaica Deposit Insurance Corporation (JDIC), has revealed that depositors are continuing to enjoy a high level of protection on their savings.
In the JDIC’s annual survey for 2006/07, it was noted that as at December 31, 2006, an estimated 95.67 per cent of accounts were covered. The survey also revealed a trend of continuing growth in system deposits, both in the number of accounts, and dollar value terms.
The JDIC informed that at the end of December 2006, total insurable deposits amounted to $337.66 billion, representing an increase of 10 per cent over December 2005 levels. Meanwhile, the ratio of insurable deposits in the three sub-sectors remained unchanged at 75:21:4 for commercial banks, building societies and merchant banks.
All three groups reported larger growth in insurable deposits in numbers and dollar value for 2006 than in 2005, the report said. The dollar value of insurable deposits at commercial banks grew by 9.24 per cent, up from 7.3 per cent; merchant banks by 17.25 per cent (up from 14.6) and building societies 11.30 per cent (up from 9.3 per cent).
In addition, the number of insurable deposit accounts in the banking system totalled 3.74 million, representing an increase of 1.05 per cent over 2005 levels.