Spreading Your Savings Risk
Much has been made lately of the government guarantee on savings deposits, where if your bank collapses then you are paid compensation of up to £50,000 per person per bank.
Unfortunately, things aren't always so simple, with many banks operating under several different brand names, and sharing the £50k liability between them. If you have more than £50k shared across two bank accounts operating under the same licence, you'd lose anything above that figure should the banks go under (something the government wouldn't allow in reality).
But how can you find out which banking brands share a licence? The table below shows which banking brands are related in this way, so that you can see how best to spread your savings around to avoid being hit by any bank failures.
Please note that this data was correct as of October 3rd 2008, but such is the pace of change in the banking industry at the present time, any mergers or failures since then may not be reflected in this table and no liability for inaccuracies is assumed.
Bank Relationships
| Bank | Banks Sharing A Licence |
| Abbey | Bradford and Bingley, Cahoot |
| Alliance and Leicester | - |
| Anglo Irish Bank | - |
| Bank of Ireland | Post Office |
| Bank of Scotland | Birmingham Midshires, Halifax, Intelligent Finance, Saga, The AA |
| Barclays | Woolwich |
| Birmingham Midshires | Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Intelligent Finance, Saga, The AA |
| Bradford and Bingley | Abbey, Cahoot |
| Britannia BS | - |
| Cahoot | Abbey, Bradford and Bingley |
| Cheltenham and Gloucester | Lloyds TSB |
| Cheshire BS | Derbyshire, Nationwide |
| Citigroup | - |
| Clydesdale Bank | Yorkshire Bank |
| Co-op Bank | Smile |
| Coutts | - |
| Coventry BS | - |
| Derbyshire | Cheshire BS, Nationwide |
| Direct Line | Royal Bank of Scotland |
| Egg | - |
| First Direct | HSBC |
| Halifax | Bank of Scotland, Birmingham Midshires, Intelligent Finance, Saga, The AA |
| HSBC | First Direct |
| Icesave | - |
| ING Direct | - |
| Intelligent Finance | Bank of Scotland, Birmingham Midshires, Halifax, Saga, The AA |
| Kent Reliance BS | - |
| Lloyds TSB | Cheltenham and Gloucester |
| Nationwide | Cheshire BS, Derbyshire |
| NatWest | - |
| Post Office | Bank of Ireland |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | Direct Line |
| Saga | Bank of Scotland, Birmingham Midshires, Halifax, Intelligent Finance, The AA |
| Sainsbury's Bank | - |
| Smile | Co-op Bank |
| Tesco Personal Finance | - |
| The AA | Bank of Scotland, Birmingham Midshires, Halifax, Intelligent Finance, Saga |
| Woolwich | Barclays |
| Yorkshire Bank | Clydesdale Bank |
| Yorkshire Building Society | - |
