Which banks are stable?
Which banks are stable?
Author
Discussion

bosshog

Original Poster:

1,800 posts

306 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
Hi,

can anyone point me to a list of some kind that will indicate how stable a bank is in these times?
We're selling our house and have a rather large lump of cash we need to put somewhere safe in the shortish term.

Any ideas?

thanks!

ringram

14,702 posts

278 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
They are all insolvent ultimately.
But Osborne and King will likely guarantee all deposits anyway while things are bad.
Make sure you dump in FSA entity, but given RBS is majority owned by the Govt its very unlikely you will lose anything with them.
So perhaps chop up and spread around a few.

Steffan

10,362 posts

258 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
bosshog said:
Hi,

can anyone point me to a list of some kind that will indicate how stable a bank is in these times?
We're selling our house and have a rather large lump of cash we need to put somewhere safe in the shortish term.

Any ideas?

thanks!
There is a guarantee limit of £85,000 on every UK bank account from the UK Government. Strictly speaking any sum beyond that is not guaranteed. You will need to invest in several banks, and to ensure that each bank has a separate licence from the others. Many banks are subsidiaries of other banks which means only one payment from the government guarantee would apply.

I think it most unlikely that there will be a collapse of any UK bank. But that is the process of you feel the need.

voicey

2,494 posts

217 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
Don't forget that if you have a joint account you get £85k protection for each person (so £170k).

Fittster

20,120 posts

243 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
Are you only interest in Banks?

Building Soc, mutual society, etc can also provide financial services

anonymous-user

84 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
Steffan said:
There is a guarantee limit of £85,000 on every UK bank account from the UK Government. Strictly speaking any sum beyond that is not guaranteed. You will need to invest in several banks, and to ensure that each bank has a separate licence from the others. Many banks are subsidiaries of other banks which means only one payment from the government guarantee would apply.

I think it most unlikely that there will be a collapse of any UK bank. But that is the process of you feel the need.
Not strictly correct Steffan, the max FSCS coverage is £85k per PERSON not per account, per Firm.

If one person holds more than £85,000 in multiple accounts at the same Firm, they will only be covered upto £85,000.

ETA
Some large banks that have bought smaller banks/societies that still trade under their original name, such as Britannia which trades under its legacy name even though its now part of the Co-Op. BOTH of them come under the FSA registration of the Co-Op. So if you have accounts at Britannia (and/or Smile), you would only again be compensated upto £85,000 as the FSCS would see all three as being the same regulated Firm.


S

Edited by djstevec on Tuesday 17th July 15:47

Steffan

10,362 posts

258 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
djstevec said:
Steffan said:
There is a guarantee limit of £85,000 on every UK bank account from the UK Government. Strictly speaking any sum beyond that is not guaranteed. You will need to invest in several banks, and to ensure that each bank has a separate licence from the others. Many banks are subsidiaries of other banks which means only one payment from the government guarantee would apply.

I think it most unlikely that there will be a collapse of any UK bank. But that is the process of you feel the need.
Not strictly correct Steffan, the max FSCS coverage is £85k per PERSON not per account, per Firm.

If one person holds more than £85,000 in multiple accounts at the same Firm, they will only be covered upto £85,000.

ETA
Some large banks that have bought smaller banks/societies that still trade under their original name, such as Britannia which trades under its legacy name even though its now part of the Co-Op. BOTH of them come under the FSA registration of the Co-Op. So if you have accounts at Britannia (and/or Smile), you would only again be compensated upto £85,000 as the FSCS would see all three as being the same regulated Firm.


S

Edited by djstevec on Tuesday 17th July 15:47
I did point out on my post:

"You will need to invest in several banks, and to ensure that each bank has a separate licence from the others. Many banks are subsidiaries of other banks which means only one payment from the government guarantee would apply."

Seems clear to me but if you prefer your version that is fine by me.

Realistically I think the risk is small. Presumably you could insure this risk with a UK insurer. Whether any of the financial systems would survive a British bank going bust is a moot point. I rather doubt it.

Out of interest, I did actually arrange the opening of twenty five bank accounts for a client in 2008 when the heat was on so that he could deposit £50,000 in each which he did. There are some very cautious investors about.

anonymous-user

84 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
Steffan said:
djstevec said:
Steffan said:
There is a guarantee limit of £85,000 on every UK bank account from the UK Government. Strictly speaking any sum beyond that is not guaranteed. You will need to invest in several banks, and to ensure that each bank has a separate licence from the others. Many banks are subsidiaries of other banks which means only one payment from the government guarantee would apply.

I think it most unlikely that there will be a collapse of any UK bank. But that is the process of you feel the need.
Not strictly correct Steffan, the max FSCS coverage is £85k per PERSON not per account, per Firm.

If one person holds more than £85,000 in multiple accounts at the same Firm, they will only be covered upto £85,000.

ETA
Some large banks that have bought smaller banks/societies that still trade under their original name, such as Britannia which trades under its legacy name even though its now part of the Co-Op. BOTH of them come under the FSA registration of the Co-Op. So if you have accounts at Britannia (and/or Smile), you would only again be compensated upto £85,000 as the FSCS would see all three as being the same regulated Firm.


S

Edited by djstevec on Tuesday 17th July 15:47
I did point out on my post:

"You will need to invest in several banks, and to ensure that each bank has a separate licence from the others. Many banks are subsidiaries of other banks which means only one payment from the government guarantee would apply."

Seems clear to me but if you prefer your version that is fine by me.

Realistically I think the risk is small. Presumably you could insure this risk with a UK insurer. Whether any of the financial systems would survive a British bank going bust is a moot point. I rather doubt it.

Out of interest, I did actually arrange the opening of twenty five bank accounts for a client in 2008 when the heat was on so that he could deposit £50,000 in each which he did. There are some very cautious investors about.
My apologies, you did indeed. Skim reading on iPhones isnt the best.

25 accounts across separate banks is exactly what I would do.

Steffan

10,362 posts

258 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
No need for an apology I am both opinionated and frequently wrong. It is not easy to find which banks have individual cover because of all the amalgamations. The small mutuals viz: Coventry BS, Melton Mowbray BS etc helped.

anonymous-user

84 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
Steffan said:
No need for an apology I am both opinionated and frequently wrong. It is not easy to find which banks have individual cover because of all the amalgamations. The small mutuals viz: Coventry BS, Melton Mowbray BS etc helped.
And stay away from FSA "passported" banks as you would only be covered under the legislation of the home state of the bank.

GBB

1,737 posts

189 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
Technically my business is more solvent than the banks.

We'd be happy to host your money for you!

Odie

4,187 posts

212 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
Surely someone like nationwide would be the best option? Worlds largest building society

Steffan

10,362 posts

258 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
GBB said:
Technically my business is more solvent than the banks.

We'd be happy to host your money for you!
Technically most UK businesses are more solvent than the banks. That is the reality of the real problems in the economy today. The banks will not lend to business that are more solvent than they are. You could not make it up!

Sharted

3,162 posts

173 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
World's largest building society is a bit misleading really.

There are no building societies outside the UK.

It's a bit like the world series in some sport only played in the US

Cheib

25,417 posts

205 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
Of the major clearers HSBC is the absolute stand out despite the fact they have just been caught up in a money laundering case in the US.

I'd avoid any of the small Building Societies as there is so much less visibility or scrutiny of their business model. I'd also think about RBS as they are already state owned and absolutely anything and everything would be done to keep them going.....the tax payer has tens of billions of pounds of exposure to them and no politician wants to explain that.

Mermaid

21,492 posts

201 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
German Banks?

m444ttb

3,183 posts

259 months

Tuesday 17th July 2012
quotequote all
Please put all your money with Nationwide. It may help me get a fraction of a penny more in my 2012/13 bonus next June biggrin;)

Tiggsy

10,261 posts

282 months

Wednesday 18th July 2012
quotequote all
Any high st bank is fine - whenever people worry about this they mention Barings (which no one had heard of before Lesson) and Northern Rock (which the only thing that it lost was the wasted time while old people qued outside)

Cheib

25,417 posts

205 months

Wednesday 18th July 2012
quotequote all
Mermaid said:
German Banks?
Erm they aren't the best

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive...

And also German banks that you have heard of i.e. Duetsche Bank and Commerzbank etc are not like ours...they don't have the huge domestic deposit base that say Barclays or RBS have. Germans keep their saving with Savings Banks (Sparkasse) which I suppose are a bit like Building Societies and not with the major banks as such.

German banking system is very,very fragmented and regionalised. They have over 2000 banks!