CDIC Coverage Explained: How to Insure More Than $100,000
CDIC does not insure “your savings” as one pot. It insures eligible deposits up to $100,000 per category, including principal and interest, at each member institution. The depositor page lists nine categories. Hold deposits in more than one category, or at more than one member, and the total covered can be more than $100,000. A second account in the same name at the same member does not do it.
Which dollars are worth insuring, and which should be a security instead, is the cash management guide. The accounts people actually open are high-interest savings and no-fee chequing. A GIC is an eligible deposit and still shares a category, which is why the ladder does not create five limits. An ETF is not an eligible deposit at all. That comparison is CASH versus PSA versus CBIL.
- The $100,000 figure on CDIC’s page includes principal and interest. A deposit of $100,000 that then earns interest can push part of the balance over the cap.
- The nine categories named on the “what’s covered” page are: one name, joint, RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, RDSP, RESP, FHSA, and trust.
- Not eligible, on that same page: mutual funds, stocks, bonds, ETFs, and crypto, including stablecoins.
- Joint deposits are a separate category, up to $100,000 per set of joint owners, not per person. Different sets of owners are separate.
- EQ Bank says the EQ Bank and Equitable Bank names are aggregated. They are one member. Wealthsimple says it is not a CDIC member and that it places chequing funds in trust at member institutions, up to a combined $1 million on its description.
What does CDIC actually cover?
CDIC is a federal Crown corporation. Coverage is free and automatic. You do not buy a policy. If a member fails, CDIC’s tools include helping sell the institution or, if it comes to it, paying depositors. The public page says no one has lost a dollar that was insured by CDIC. That sentence is about insured deposits. It is not a promise about every product a bank sells.
Eligible deposits, on the page reviewed, include deposits in Canadian or foreign currency and guaranteed investment certificates and other term deposits. If a member fails, CDIC says GICs are cashed out immediately, including interest owing, up to the $100,000 maximum, and that early-redemption fees are not charged. Interest accrued up to the closure date is added to principal before the cap is applied.
| Category | What stacks it | What does not |
|---|---|---|
| Deposits in one name | A separate member institution | A second chequing account, savings account, or GIC in the same name at the same member. CDIC’s own example adds two chequing accounts and one savings account together. |
| Joint deposits | A different set of joint owners. You and a spouse are one set. You and a child are another. | Splitting one joint account into two accounts with the same two names. Coverage is per set of owners, up to $100,000 for the set, and the records must show joint ownership and each owner’s name and address. |
| RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, RDSP, RESP, FHSA | Each registered plan type is its own category | Mutual funds, stocks, bonds, and ETFs held inside the plan. CDIC says those are not insured. A savings deposit or GIC inside the plan can be. A spousal RRSP is insured based on the named owner, not the contributor who got the receipt. |
| Trust | Deposits held in trust, which CDIC treats as their own category. A broker-held trust deposit can be separate from a joint deposit even if both names feel “joint.” | Assuming a fintech app is itself the member. The member is the institution that holds the deposit. Read the trust disclosure. |
Table as of September 2026. CDIC’s for-depositors page also says it decides whether a particular high-interest savings account is eligible case by case. “HISA” on an ad is not, by itself, the coverage.
How do you cover more than $100,000?
Use a category you already have a reason to use, or use a second member. Do not open an RRSP solely to double a chequing balance. A withdrawal from that RRSP is taxable and the room is gone. The account order is RRSP versus TFSA versus FHSA. A TFSA deposit can be a real second category if you were going to use the room for cash anyway. An FHSA deposit can be a real category if you are saving for a first home. A joint account with a spouse is a real category if you actually own the money together.
CDIC’s for-depositors page describes Jane with $10,000 and $15,000 in two chequing accounts and $50,000 in savings, all in her name. Those are added together. She is paid $75,000 for the one-name category, not three cheques. A joint account of $35,000 with her husband is a separate category, so the page’s total protected amount is $110,000. That is the mechanism.
Illustration, not a CDIC ruling: Sam holds $80,000 in a Personal Account and a $40,000 GIC, both in his name at one member. The one-name total is $120,000 before new interest. Only $100,000 of that category is insured. Moving the GIC to a second CDIC member, still in his name, puts that $40,000 in a separate one-name limit at the second member. Moving it into his TFSA at the first member, if he has the room and the GIC is an eligible deposit inside the TFSA, uses the TFSA category instead. Both moves change coverage. Only the second move also uses TFSA room. Confirm the member list before you treat two brands as two members.
Which brands share one member?
Trade names are the usual mistake. EQ Bank’s FAQ says deposits under EQ Bank and Equitable Bank are aggregated for CDIC, up to $100,000 per category per depositor. A Personal Account, a GIC, and a US-dollar account in one name are one pile. A joint account is separate, on that same FAQ. EQ Bank is a trade name of Equitable Bank, and Equitable Bank is the member.
Wealthsimple’s chequing page says Wealthsimple is not a bank and not a CDIC member. It says personal chequing funds are placed in trust at up to ten CDIC-member institutions, which it describes as extending protection up to a combined $1 million. That $1 million is Wealthsimple’s description of spreading trust deposits across members. It is not a sentence on CDIC’s page that one member covers $1 million. CDIC’s trust category, at each member, is still the category limit. Wealthsimple also says funds in a joint account are registered under the primary account holder’s name and calculated under that holder’s eligible deposits. Read that sentence before you assume a joint Wealthsimple account is the joint category CDIC describes for a bank account titled in two names.
Simplii’s chequing page, reviewed the same day, did not itself state the legal member. Access to CIBC ATMs is not the same sentence as “this is a separate CDIC member.” Look the institution up on CDIC’s member list before you park a second $100,000 there and call it a second limit.
CDIC says a depositor can be an individual, a partnership, a corporation, or certain other entities, and that business deposits may be insured separately from personal ones. A sole proprietorship is not a separate legal entity. Deposits in the sole prop’s name are combined with the individual’s personal deposits. A corporation is a different depositor. Do not move household savings into a sole-prop account and believe you created a new $100,000.
What fails, and what takes longer to get back?
Cheques for one-name and joint deposits start going out by mail in the days after a member closes, on CDIC’s description. You do not file a claim. Registered deposits are slower on purpose. CDIC says it cannot pay those by cheque directly, because the plan has to stay tax-sheltered. You choose a new institution that offers the same registered type, and the deposit is transferred into that type. An RRSP deposit cannot be moved into a TFSA to “keep the shelter” in a different category. The shelter is the same plan type.
During that gap, bill payments and payroll hitting the failed member stop. CDIC’s page tells you to open an account elsewhere and redirect them. A ladder or a HISA that is your only liquid account is a coverage plan and a bad operations plan. Keep a second everyday account before you need it. That is the chequing decision, and it is also why the emergency fund should not all sit at one login.
Frequently asked questions
Does CDIC cover more than $100,000 at one bank?
Yes, if the deposits are in different categories, and only up to $100,000 in each, including interest. One name, joint, and each registered type are separate. Two savings accounts in one name are not. A second member is the other way to stack the same category. Confirm both the category and the member on CDIC’s pages, not on a comparison site.
Are joint accounts $100,000 each?
No. CDIC says each joint deposit is protected up to $100,000 per set of joint owners, no matter how many people are on that set. You and your spouse share one $100,000 for accounts in those two names. A different pair, such as you and a child, is a different set and a different $100,000. The bank’s records have to say the deposit is joint and have to list each owner.
Is a HISA ETF insured by CDIC?
No. CDIC lists exchange-traded funds as not eligible. Global X says CASH and CBIL are not covered. Purpose says PSA’s securities are not covered. You own units. If the fund holds bank deposits, those deposits are the fund’s assets, not a deposit in your name. Brokerage-client protection, if the dealer fails and property is missing, is a different regime. It is not deposit insurance and it is not a promise that the units hold their price.
Does interest count toward the $100,000?
Yes. CDIC says the limit includes principal and interest, and that interest accrued to the date of failure is added before the cap. A GIC bought at the maximum, or a savings balance sitting at $100,000, can be partly uninsured once interest posts. Leave room for the interest or use another category or member.
What happens to a GIC if the bank fails?
CDIC says eligible GICs are cashed out immediately, whatever term is left, with interest owing, up to $100,000, and that early-redemption fees are not charged. You do not keep the remaining term. You get the insured amount. Non-registered deposits are paid by cheque. Registered GICs follow the slower transfer process so the plan stays registered.
Is Wealthsimple’s $1 million the same as CDIC’s limit?
It is Wealthsimple’s description of trust placements at up to ten members, not a higher limit printed by CDIC for a single member. Wealthsimple also says it is not itself a member, and that a joint chequing balance is registered under the primary holder. Read the current trust disclosure and CDIC’s trust category together. Do not add “$1 million” to a mental model that still assumes one chequing account equals one $100,000.
Sources
- CDIC: what’s covered
- CDIC: for depositors
- EQ Bank: Personal Account, including the CDIC aggregation answer
- Wealthsimple: chequing, including the trust-coverage description
Coverage is a category. The tax on the interest is a different file.
A TFSA or RRSP changes both the insurance category and the tax. The 2026 tax guide is the tax half.
Get the 2026 Tax Guide — $49 CAD
