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I'm not an American, but I'd like to take advantage of this good advice and put 6 months of emergency funds into a savings account. However, I don't know what account to use locally because there aren't FDIC or NCUSIF accounts here.

I have googled for some of the other terms mentioned ("insured savings account south africa") but that just gets me companies that do insurance and savings.

I live in South Africa, but it'd be preferable if other people in all different countries can figure out what their options are locally. I expect most countries have this option. Is there a more general term for the specific American one? How do I tell what my local equivalent is?

Joe
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In the UK we have the FSCS - Financial Services Compensation Scheme and a similar scheme -- EFDI operates across Europe.

However, it appears that such a scheme does not yet exist in South Africa, as this article from May 2017 details a proposal from the South African Reserve Bank and the National Treasury about setting one up.

TripeHound
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  • Is there no other alternative? Surely there is a safe place to put my money without risking it? –  Aug 07 '17 at 16:59
  • @stanri under your mattress maybe? ;) – Michael Aug 07 '17 at 18:50
  • In an American or European bank account? – Joe Aug 07 '17 at 19:09
  • @Joe wouldn't a foreign currency be a bad investment due to fluctuations in the exchange rate? –  Aug 07 '17 at 20:39
  • Seems like both USD and EUR would be far more stable investments than the Rand... – Joe Aug 07 '17 at 20:44
  • @Joe What if I spend R1500 buying $100 USD and then the exchange rate goes down over two years from 15 to 13? Then I'll only have R1300 and I'd have lost on my original capital investment. This is a really risky investment to make. (And, it just happened!) There are tons of savings options in South Africa. fixed term savings, money markets, even my bank account balance gives me ~6% interest. I don't know why it's so hard to find out which one is a good option for this particular scenario? –  Aug 08 '17 at 05:53