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[Mee]

I've had accounts with ICICI for three years now and never once has there been a problem. E-mail queries have been dealt with quickly and courteously which is more than I can say about some 'UK' and Republic of Ireland banks.

[RobertoMoir]

Originally Posted by Mee

I've had accounts with ICICI for three years now and never once has there been a problem. E-mail queries have been dealt with quickly and courteously which is more than I can say about some 'UK' and Republic of Ireland banks.

Well got to take things as you find them haven't you? I've banked with the same bank for years and they've always been very nice and polite and helpful to me despite the complaints that I see here and elsewhere about them. I don't doubt those complainers have had problems... but I haven't!

[bonzer]

I was in ICICI (instant access) for ages. It was only their rates dropping to uncompetitve levels that made me shift my money out and look elsewhere.

I'll admit the Indian thing did make me more reticent to start with because it's not a classic banking country. Spain just feels more financially solvent to me than India basically because it's a richer country. Also ICICI is a bad brand I think because it sounds close to BCCI who left a lot of people in the lurch in the UK in the early 1990s. I wonder whether people would incorrectly remember BCCI as Indian (it was a Pakistani bank).

If Martin hadn't recommended it I don't think I would have invested in ICICI on my own.

[CrazyIndianZA]

Originally Posted by bonzer

I'll admit the Indian thing did make me more reticent to start with because it's not a classic banking country. Spain just feels more financially solvent to me than India basically because it's a richer country. Also ICICI is a bad brand I think because it sounds close to

Will point out that Spain as an economy is not that far ahead of India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...y_GDP_(nominal)

and suspect in the current climate, Spain with its heavy reliance on construction is worse of India fiscally

In the interests of disclosure..while being of Indian origin, I have never been to India.

[bonzer]

Originally Posted by CrazyIndianZA

Will point out that Spain as an economy is not that far ahead of India.

Depends how you measure it. Per capita, India is a very poor country. Spain is significantly richer. India's country credit rating is also worse. Standard and Poor's puts it at BBB- versus Spain on AA+

I'm not saying it's numerically correct, it's just a feeling, that investing in an Indian bank doesn't feel as safe to me as investing in a Western European bank. As such I need additional assurance (like from Martin and UK government guarantees) to know it's OK.

By the same method I would previously have said Iceland was more likely to be stable. So much for gut instinct

[CrazyIndianZA]

yes, the same rating agencies that rate MBS

[Stephen Leak]

Give ICICI their due.

Before it all went "pear shaped", I had savings accounts with them, Kaupthing (or Kaputhing, as I originally mistyped!) and Icesave.

Now I still have an account with them, plus ING. All other things remaining equal, once the bonus rate from ING ends, ICICI will have the highest rate of return going for a clean instant access savings account.

[Fudge1977]

Originally Posted by MSE Martin

In many ways I am minded to only refer to a banks nationality when it does not have the full UK protection - otherwise distinctions are in many ways arbitrary.

I think that's the answer.

You could pop an ownership / group matrix somewhere on the site so if people are interested they could look it up easily? Maybe you have done that already as we are all now careful to keep <£50k in an institution.

[MSE Dan]

Hiya Fudge1977,

If you're interested in that, we've got a table on 'What counts as the same institution?' here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe-savings#whatcounts

Hope that helps

Dan

[JimmyTheWig]

Is it also relevant in terms of where their call centre is?
ICICI is the only place that I deal with where I don't mind if they have a call centre in India. It's something I accept as they are Indian.

But also it gives the thing some context. Say "Abbey" and everyone knows what you are talking about. Say "ICICI" and most people don't. Actually the sentance "UK subsidiary of Indian bank ICICI (min. £1,000) is now joined by private bank Rothschild at 4.35% AER (min. £20,000)" is quite balanced - it explains a little detail about each of these two banks that otherwise we know little about.

[organic_choc]

Originally Posted by MSE Martin

Is HSBC - floated in the UK but ultimately the "Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation" so Chinese
Martin

Calling HSBC Chinese is rather silly IMHO. All the British operations of HSBC back in 1993 were... wait for it... Midland Bank!!

Let's look at the five British banks that are part of the Top 500 FT companies:
1 HSBC
2 Standard Chartered
3 Royal Bank of Scotland
4 Barclays
5 Lloyds Banking Group
Source: http://media.ft.com/cms/48f0d38e-4f4...144feabdc0.pdf

The top two UK banks (HSBC and Standard Charter) are both note issuing banks in Hong Kong. Because of the currency peg (Hong Kong dollar is pegged to US dollar) it places restrictions on how these two banks may raise their cash from the public (as in from the money markets, not bank deposits). Now down to three.

I don't know how anyone can be 100% "Buy Brit" in banking as all banks have operations all around the planet. Say if you bank with RBS, RBS owns many things around the world. For instance it is one of the largest shareholders of HSBC. Like RBS it is one of the main seller of "mortages" for private jets and its clients are billionaires all around the world. Now down to two.

I am sure you can pretty much knock out the rest of the banks in Britain from your "Buy Brit" list if you look hard enough. If you look at the current account balance of UK - it hasn't been positive since 1984. Everything in UK is to a degree not owned by Brit and cannot be offsetted by Brit-owned items overseas.

Source: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/.../download.aspx

I don't think there is anything particularly good or particularly bad about it. Obviously there is great attractions on owning what you use, but on the other hand people would only lend to you if you're trustworthy.

[meher]

But it largely depends on how they project themselves, isn't it? ICICI says theirs in an Indian financial institution so I suppose that would be the way it should be informed to people, whereas ING Direct, for instance, maintains no such image and merely states in their profile that they are Authorised and regulated by De Nederlandsche Bank. Yes, there may be some who don't look beyond names but then I'd say, any xenophobic attitude, if at all, is just a fringe of the society and probably best for the bank as well not to have to deal with the likes, so I don't see why it shouldn't be given a profile they have chosen.

[Saucepot]

I'd rather stick my money in an Indian bank than an Icelandic one.

I think for most retail banking, there is a strong element of trust related to branding. Most of the Highstreet British banks have been there for generations and are familiar to customers. Until recently the thought of a British bank going bust was laughable. My old economics master used to tell me it was the nearest thing to impossible.

The current financial turmoil will make punters wary of foreign banks, and to some degree with good reason. Regardless of the government promises of whatever nation, most of the promises made are in worse case scenario untenable, and any government is going to favour domestic voters before foriegners. Here is Britian you are at least a domestic voter, and not a foriegner.

The rating agencies do price Indian government debt as riskier than British government debt, and in any bank account you are lending money to a bank, usually with some sort of government guarentee from somewhere. Though an indian bank taking retail customers in the UK, would have the same FSA guarentees as any, I would guess. Tax dodgers open accounts abroad, and if you do that, you take your chances.

MSE affords some great information on price, to assist in making financial decisions, but in any endevour price is not the only factor. Customer service, trust, all manner of things are significant.

I have no dealing with ICICI, and thus cannot say what manner of outfit they are, but if customers are wary I would not blame xenophobia. It is perfectly rational to be wary. It ought to be an indication that ICICI have work to do building brand awareness and trust.

I did once walk into a branch of "The Islamic Bank of Britain" and ask, "Whats islamic banking all about then?" and a rather polite young chap gave me a wonderful explanation and informed me that you don't have to be a muslim. Got the impression you couldn't fault the customer service.

[meher]

Originally Posted by Saucepot

if customers are wary I would not blame xenophobia. It is perfectly rational to be wary. It ought to be an indication that ICICI have work to do building brand awareness and trust.

actually that's a good perspective

[JimmyTheWig]

Fascinatingly, I’ve just learned the link to Rothschild bank was massively more popular than the one to ICICI. Now some of this may be because Rothschild is a new product and therefore some people will already be up to their safe savings limit in ICICI, but I suspect the majority is due to the phrase “UK subsidiary of Indian bank”, even though later we explain that it has the same protection.

Do you have any statistics on how many people signed up for each account having clicked your link?
Do you have any statistics as to how long the people who clicked each link has been receiving your emails?

My point is that for those of us who have been around this website for months or more have probably looked at the ICICI website before. It's been in and around your top picks for ages.
As it happens, my wife has an ICICI account but even if we weren't with them I would have had a look at them at some point from reading your articles and emails.
Also as it happens, I didn't get around to reading the email that we are talking about. But I am sure that if I had done I probably would have clicked the Rothschild link out of interest. I definitely wouldn't have clicked the ICICI link and I definitely wouldn't have signed up for either account.
If the majority of your readers are like me then that explains the discrepancy but also points out that Rothschild haven't benefited from anything and ICICI haven't lost out. [And if you get paid by the click rather than the application then Rothschild are the ones to lose out!]

[Mr Mumble]

Originally Posted by MSE Martin

Is HSBC - floated in the UK but ultimately the "Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation" so Chinese

Martin

Using that kind of logic the East India Company wasn't British! Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was founded by Thomas Sutherland, a Scotsman, in 1865.

[Netjude]

After checking them out on the net I decided to invest a sizeable sum of money with ICICI. However, I have never been able to access my account on line, the password they sent did not work and they seemed incapable of sorting it out. I asked them to close the account and return my money within the 14 days cooling off period in accordance with their terms and conditions. They have, since then, done nothing but lie and attempt to mislead me about my rights and entitlements and it seems I have a big fight ahead to get my money back.

I did not mind that the bank was "Indian" as I invested in the UK branch in any event. What I do mind is any people, whatever their nationality behaving in such a way that I can no longer trust them or what they say. Big Shame on them. I wouldnt touch them again, ever!