British savers have rushed to withdraw money from foreign banks and many more are planning to steer clear of them in the wake of the Icelandic banking crash. British banking brands are expected to attract tens of millions in savers’ cash as a result. The irony however is that the top ‘British’ brand on interest rates, Bradford & Bingley, is not technically British following its recent acquisition by Spanish bank Santander.
It must be said however that Indian own ICICI and Nigerian own FBN are fully covered up to £50,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and do not operate under a foreign passport compensation system like Dutch bank ING Direct or the Turkish Akbank (or even the UK branch of the fallen Icelandic banks).
Tags: FBN, Financial Services Compensation Scheme, foreign banks, foreign passport compensation system, FSCS, icici, Savings