Eurozone crisis – Are my savings safe?

With the Eurozone crisis rearing it’s head again I thought it would be a good idea to revisit a subject I have dealt with before regarding your savings

If you have savings in UK licensed financial institutions then your money will be safe, up to a point. Under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) you will be compensated up to a maximum of £85,000 if your bank were to collapse, and this would be doubled up to £170,000 if you held a joint account. However, if you have savings above these amounts then may you need to start thinking about spreading your savings amongst a number of banks, as each account will then be protected up to the £85,000 limit.

One thing to bear in mind when opening new bank accounts is that although a banks may have a different name it might be part of a bigger group. In which case only a total £85,000 will be protected across the whole group.

The key to unravelling this dilema is to understand who owns the ‘Banking Licence’ for the main banks in the UK so that you can then open accounts with banks that fall under different licences.

I have covered the main UK banks below to help you keep your hard earned savings safe.

BANK	BANKING LICENCE
Bank of Scotland	Bank of Scotland plc
Halifax	Bank of Scotland plc
Birmingham Midshires	Bank of Scotland plc
Intelligent Finance	Bank of Scotland plc
Saga	Bank of Scotland plc
Barclays Bank	Barclays Bank plc
First Direct	HSBC Bank plc
HSBC	HSBC Bank plc
Lloyds TSB	Llloyds TSB Bank plc
Cheltenham & Gloucester	Llloyds TSB Bank plc
Cheshire BS	Nationwide BS
Derbyshire BS	Nationwide BS
Dunfermline BS	Nationwide BS
Nationwide BS	Nationwide BS
NatWest	National Westminster Bank plc
Royal Bank of Scotland	Royal Bank of Scotland
Alliance & Leicester	Santander UK plc
Cahoot	Santander UK plc
Santander	Santander UK plc
Britannia	The Co-operative Bank plc
Smile	The Co-operative Bank plc
The Co-operative Bank	The Co-operative Bank plc

Note – If you have money invested in foreign banks operating in the UK then they will either be part of the FSCS or what is known as the Passport Scheme. This basically mean that banks can operate under the compensation scheme of their home country and since 2010 all such schemes must have a limit of at least €100,000. If you have any doubts ask the bank in question for details of the compensation scheme they operate.