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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?

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  • deposit insurance
    – NL - Apologize to Monica
    Aug 7, 2017 at 14:25
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    I think this needs to be location-specific; it's just not a sort of thing that's generalizable. So added south-africa.
    – Joe
    Aug 7, 2017 at 16:33

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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.

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  • Is there no other alternative? Surely there is a safe place to put my money without risking it?
    – user40750
    Aug 7, 2017 at 16:59
  • @stanri under your mattress maybe? ;)
    – Michael
    Aug 7, 2017 at 18:50
  • In an American or European bank account?
    – Joe
    Aug 7, 2017 at 19:09
  • @Joe wouldn't a foreign currency be a bad investment due to fluctuations in the exchange rate?
    – user40750
    Aug 7, 2017 at 20:39
  • Seems like both USD and EUR would be far more stable investments than the Rand...
    – Joe
    Aug 7, 2017 at 20:44

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