Where to put your IQD Windfall: Insurance, Treasury Bills and the First 90 Days

When the Iraqi dinar revalues and a holder exchanges notes at a bank, the proceeds arrive by wire, often more money than the holder has ever held. Where that money sits for the first 90 days decides whether it is still there years later. IR-029 The Window: Where It Lands sets out the plan for international holders: park the bulk where it is protected, keep a small share ready, and buy in stages.

A bank balance is a loan to the bank

In the US, deposit insurance covers $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category. Above that line, money on deposit is a debt the bank owes you, and in a failure it becomes a claim in a queue. Across 838 US bank failures from 1992 to 2022, uninsured depositors took a loss in 165 of them. Ownership categories and trust accounts stretch the cover to around $3.5 million for a couple at one bank, which still falls short of a large windfall.

Sweep networks, Treasury bills and custody

Above the insured line there are 3 tools. Sweep networks split a large balance into insured slices across many banks under one agreement. Short Treasury bills are a direct obligation of the US Treasury with no cap at any size, and at the end of September 2026 they paid about 3.9% to 4.5%. Government money market funds give daily access but are not insured. The deciding rule is custody: assets a bank holds in custody do not become assets or liabilities of the bank, so Treasury bills held that way stay the holder's property if the bank fails.

The UK, Australia, Canada and Europe

The UK protects £120,000 per person per firm, and its Treasury-backed savings bank takes up to £2 million per person in one account. Australia guarantees A$250,000 per holder per bank. Canada covers C$100,000 per category and excludes deposits from bail-in. The European limit is €100,000 per bank. In every system the excess is best held as short government paper or in custody.

The first 90 days

The plan is not to sit on cash. Buying accounts are opened in the trust's name before the event. In week 1 the tax set-aside goes into a bill that matures before the payment date, the bulk moves into custody, and a share of 5% to 10% of liquid assets is held on the sidelines. The report treats a sharp market fall around the event as likely enough to plan for, so that share is deployed in stages, never all at once.

The full report adds the wire-day checklist, how to check a bank's health, the offshore booking centres, and the safe-account call that empties new accounts. Read the full windfall parking analysis.