Deposit protection in UK banks

I am currently in the process of distributing my liquid assets in such a way that I don't hold more than 35,000 in any one account. How can I make absolutely sure that a bank I choose is definitely covered by the government's deposit guarantee. To start with, I am planning to distribute over internet accounts from Ing, Alliance & Leicester & Citibank.

Many thanks for any advice.

Reply to
Colonel Colt
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You Google for Financial Services Compensation Scheme and follow the links, or go directly to:

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Reply to
Ceres

You need to also be aware that you are not necessarily covered for £35,000 in each separate bank. It depends who holds the bank licence as deposit taker. eg. Birmingham Midshires and Intelligent Finance operate under the Bank of Scotland licence. If the group get into difficulty then you only have cover for £35,000 for your combined saving in the three banks. Similarly C&G Savings are covered by the Lloyds TSB licence, and things could get more complex when and if there are any changes to the licence for the new combined group.

Similarly, unless things have changed recently, it is not clear what would happen under the scheme if there was general meltdown. The FSCS has very finite limits. It is funded by a levy on the members and can come up with just over £4bn per annum. (Retail ie savers deposits in Northern Rock were £20+bn) If several major banks failed then the losses could be considerable and presumably the levy base would be smaller if the major players were not themselves contributing to it.

I've never seen these issues of the limits of funding addressed, and neither of the two government ministers I've seen be asked, has answered 'yes' when asked if all savers can rest assured they have guaranteed cover to £35,000 in all circumstances. I doubt that any scheme or government could guarantee cover for the potential losses in the current circumstances.

Toom

Reply to
Toom Tabard

You need to check their FSA registration numbers, and make sure it is not more than £35k per FSA registration number. Different banks in the same group can have the same FSA number, but not always. For example Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Birmingham Midshires, Intelligent Finance, AA and SAGA share an FSA registration, but Sainsburys Bank has a separate registration.

Cheltenham & Gloucester shares a registration with Lloyds TSB, but Lloyds TSB Scotland is a separate registration, as is Scottish Widows.

These two are going to merge at some point, so there could well be future reorganisations of their FSA registrations.

Alliance & Leicester is going to be taken over by Banco Santander, who also owns Abbey, so there could be a reorganisation there.

There are a few people that share a registration with Royal Bank of Scotland. Natwest and Ulster Bank however do not.

Reply to
Jonathan Bryce

There's a handy guide here, with a table at the end to assist with distribution.

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Chris

Reply to
Chris Lawrence

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