bail-in

noun

The process of saving a bank from insolvency by making use of its internal resources (such as client deposits).

Meanings

nounbail-in (plural bail-ins)

plural bail-ins

  1. The process of saving a bank from insolvency by making use of its internal resources (such as client deposits).

    A “bail-in” process for bank resolution is a potentially powerful “third option” that confronts this problem head-on. It would give officials the authority to force banks to recapitalise from within, using private capital, not public money.

    2010 January 28, “From bail-out to bail-in”, in The Economist, →ISSN
    1 more example

    Alternatively, where losses are not completely transferred to other creditors, the resolution fund can provide a contribution to the bank in order to cover the losses not absorbed through the bail-in and the capital shortfall, as well as to buy shares or other capital instruments of the bank under resolution in order to recapitalise it.

    2016, Giuseppe Boccuzzi, The European Banking Union: Supervision and Resolution

Origin

From bail + in, formed to contrast with bailout, which came first.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bail-in. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bail-in

MLA

“bail-in.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bail-in. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bail-in,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bail-in.

Source: bail-in on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.