Savers with cash frozen in accounts with the UK branch of Icesave will get back their savings through a fast-track refund scheme. Payments are expected to begin in the first two weeks of November. Although the plan has yet to be finalised, it is expected that payments will be made electronically into other accounts. This will happen in stages and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) will write to all ‘retail depositors’ to explain how the process will work.
Posts Tagged ‘Icesave’
Icesave savers to get fast-track refunds
Saturday, October 25th, 2008Icelandic compensation to start soon
Thursday, October 9th, 2008Thousands of UK customers of two of the collapsed Icelandic banks will receive application forms for compensation for their lost savings in the next week. Most customers of Kaupthing and Heritable Bank will have compensation automatically transferred to ING Direct (its new owner). ING Direct is acquiring £2.5bn of deposits and 160,000 customers from Kaupthing and £538m of savings held by 22,200 people with Heritable Bank.
Icesave customers should learn on Friday how to claim their compensation. The UK Treasury said the three banks were in default but savers’ money was safe.
Will the UK pay full Icesave compensation?
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
So far, Iceland has claimed that it has the funds to compensate the UK’s 300,000 savers who have deposits with its Icesave accounts, so all customers will have to sit tight for the time being. Compensation must be provided within three months under EU rules.
However, if this turns out to be incorrect, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has said that it will not pay back the full £50,000 if the Icelandic system finds it is unable to pay back any individual’s funds owed up to its guarantee of 20,000 EUR (£16,000). So if you have £50,000 saved with Icesave and the Icelandic system cannot meet its obligation of £16,000 owed, then the UK system will only provide the ‘topped-up’ additional sum of £34,000.
300,000 Icesave accounts on lock-down
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008Icesave savers are still unable to withdraw their cash after the internet bank’s parent company was put into receivership by the Icelandic government. About 300,000 UK savers have spent a day unable to access their cash and face a nervous overnight wait to see if they must go to compensation schemes for their savings to be returned. Although a Landsbanki spokesperson said: ‘The bank is still operational and is in receivership. It has not gone bankrupt and so no ‘compensation’
arrangements are triggered.’
Meanwhile, the Icelandic government has guaranteed all its citizens’ savings 100%, but the guarantee does not extend to UK savers and people logging on to Icesave’s website were greeted with a message telling them that the group was not currently processing any deposits or any withdrawal requests on its internet accounts.
Kaupthing remains top of savings best-buy
Friday, April 11th, 2008
Icelandic bank Kaupthing Edge has announced it will leave its savings rate untouched at 6.5% following the Bank of England base rate cut. This is the second time it has decided to keep its top rate on hold despite base rate reductions. Icesave, the UK savings arm of Landsbanki bank, followed in the wake of its Icelandic peer and also announced that it would retain the 6.05% rate on its easy access account. Kaupthing stormed onto the UK savings market this year, but has since endured a tirade of unfavorable press after Morgan Stanley revealed its borrowing costs have increased 400% over the past year and analysts concluded it is 7.5 times more likely to default than any other European bank. However, UK savers can take solace in the fact that their savings are covered up to £35,000, as well as the impressive guarantee on the Kaupthing account of 0.3% above base rate until 2012.
Savers should beware as rates fall
Monday, February 11th, 2008Interest rates are coming down on many savings accounts following the Bank of England cut on Thursday. But although the base rate fell by just a quarter of a percentage point, the rates on some savings accounts have come down by far more. Newcomer Kaupthing Edge, however, has thrown down the gauntlet by declaring that it will not cut the 6.5% rate on its table-topping easy-access account. ICICI, which pays 6.41% to HiSave customers, Bradford & Bingley (6.40%) and Icesave (6.40%) have yet to reveal whether they have the stomach for a fight. Watch this space!
