The Danish government has provided a two-year guarantee for all deposits with and unsecured claims against Danish financial institutions. Danske Bank participates in the guarantee, which runs for two years from October 6, 2008, and which may be prolonged if required to maintain financial stability. The guarantee is managed by the Det Private Beredskab (the Sector Fund), which was established in the summer of 2007. The reason for the state guarantee is that the international capital markets have been operating very poorly recently.