The latest survey conducted for the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation shows an increase in general awareness of deposit insurance to the highest level in five years.

“General awareness of CDIC is at 60%, up 6% from this time last year. While the results indicate our public awareness activities are working, they also underscore the fact that we still have a long road ahead of us,” explained Jean Pierre Sabourin, president and CEO. Sixty-three per cent of those surveyed could not name an insured product.

One objective of CDIC’s public awareness activities is to increase understanding of what is and is not eligible for deposit insurance. Compared with last year’s findings, the percentage of Canadians who know which financial products are eligible for deposit insurance has remained stable.

There have, however, been improvements in Canadians’ knowledge of which products are not eligible, such as mutual funds, stocks, bonds, and foreign currency accounts. For example, there has been an eight-point drop in the number of Canadians who incorrectly believe that mutual funds are eligible for deposit insurance — 32% in the 2002 survey compared to 40% in both 2001 and 2000.

The maximum basic protection financial consumers can have with any one CDIC member institution is $60,000, including principal and interest. When asked about this maximum limit, about three in 10 (29 per cent) respondents cited the right amount – a slight increase from 2001.

Measures of attitudes toward deposit insurance indicate that Canadians continue to be concerned about the security of their money. A strong majority, 87%, stated that security of their money should a financial institution fail was a highly important factor in selecting where to do their personal banking.

This year’s survey included new questions to explore developments in Canadians’ banking practices. The numbers support the overall finding that banking by Internet, telephone and automatic teller machines has become a standard practice across the population.

There has been a steady increase in the proportion of Internet bankers, from 15% in March 2000 to 25% in March 2002. Telephone banking has increased very little over this same period, from 29% to 31%

The survey also found that the majority of Canadians bank in person — that is, using a teller — at least once a month. The proportion of those who do not do any banking in person is slightly higher among Internet bankers (41%).