All four of the New Zealand subsidiaries of Australian banks yesterday confirmed they would opt-in to the deposit insurance scheme announced by the government over the weekend. Not that many seem to regard the scheme as voluntary.The four Australian banks are the only institutions that will have to pay an actual premium to the government, which amounts to 10 basis points on all liabilities in excess of NZ$5 billion covered by the scheme.Around 2000 non-bank financial institutions, mostly very small entities, will be eligible so long as they are operating in accordance with their trust deed. Given the small size of their liabilities, they won't pay any fees for the benefit of the insurance.