"The Mineweb Ronald Peter Stöferle interview link is not working and I couldn't locate the interview on Mineweb, any chance you can rectify the link?

"When a falling equity portfolio might be better than cash... This morning I asked the bank...'what would happen if you went into liquidation, voluntarily or forced, what would happen to customers' cash deposits and equity portfolio's?

"The reply I expected came back in less than five minutes:

'The answer is the same for all the banks: securities are out of the balance sheet of the bank, in case of liquidation, the client still holds his shares/bonds etc. Cash is in the balance sheet of the bank; the client is guaranteed a minimum amount which in [Ed: location name deleted by sender] is € 70k from memory; the rest of the funds will be impacted by the liquidation process, ie no guarantee'.

"No doubt more people know this because of the Lehman scare, but imagine if everyone knew, and rather than stand in a three mile queue outside the bank in hope of some cash, never mind silver and gold, the markets could be a glorious place to be. Have fun."

David Fuller's view The URL link has been updated and thanks also for these comments which will certainly be of interest to many investors. You have done your due diligence. I do not wish to fan anxieties, but I think all investors should ask these same questions. Equities may not be in segregated accounts in all countries, although they certainly should be. If not, I would change the account or have the shares registered in my own name, if possible, and place them in a home safe or safe deposit box.

Cash compensation schemes will vary from country to country and most of us had an almighty scare in 2007 and particularly 2008. As I recall, Ireland was the first country in Europe to guarantee all bank deposits. Then the UK and others quickly fell in line to prevent runs on their savings banks.

Subsequently, most countries will have reviewed their Compensation Schemes. For instance, this report from BBC News Business has a Q&A section, indicating that guaranteed coverage for an individual account at any UK bank covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme has been increased to £85,000. That is an improvement but clearly inadequate for anyone with significant savings in cash.

I do not wish to be alarmist but I do not assume that 100 percent of deposits will be guaranteed in the next big financial crisis. For those countries which cannot print money, such as individual Euroland nations and protectorates, there is also the real question of affordability. Euroland ministers really do need to come up with a coherent, realistic and reassuring programme for dealing with current banking concerns if they are to avoid further capital flight to safer banks elsewhere, to gold, to short-dated Treasuries, or equities as suggested above. (See also Eoin's comments below on the European situation.)