Passport Scheme - Banks to Avoid - Includes ING

cwcw

I have found this list of members of the worthless passport scheme, topped up by the FSCS. I know Iceland is a tinpot country but in these times, when I finally get my compensation back from the whole Icesave fiasco, I will be specifically avoiding any banks that use this passport scheme. I would advise everyone on here to do the same, especially with Alistair Darling's reference to "exceptional circumstances" - if it happens again I don't think we'd be so lucky.

http://www.fscs.org.uk/consumer/how_to_claim/deposits/eea_firms_that_have_topped_up/


In Ireland

• Bank of Ireland (FSA No. 204721 / June 1996)
• Anglo Irish Bank Corporation (FSA No. 206097 / July 1998)
• Merrill Lynch International Bank Limited (FSA No. 435887 / March 2008) - topped up for both deposit and investment business

In the Netherlands

• TD Waterhouse Bank NV (FSA No. 216791 / October 2002)
• ING Direct NV (FSA No. 229688 / April 2003)
• Triodos Bank NV (FSA No. 183366 / ed May 2004)
• AkBank (FSA No. 450390 / June 2006)

In Cyprus

• Bank of Cyprus Plc (FSA No. 204627 / July 2004)
• Marfin Popular Bank Public Co Ltd (FSA No. 204649 / January 2005)

In Iceland

• Landsbanki Islands hf (FSA No. 207250 / July 2006)
• Kaupthing Bank hf (FSA No. 222968 / February 2008).
  Please note: Although Kaupthing Bank hf has topped up into FSCS, the bank currently operates under the full FSA authorisation status granted to Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Limited (a UK registered company), which means its depositors are fully protected by FSCS up to £50,000.

In Belgium

• Fortis Bank SA/NV (FSA No. 206641 / February 2008) - topped up for both deposit and investment business

In Gibraltar

• Bank J Safra (Gibraltar) Limited (FSA No. 466838 / February 2008) - topped up for investment business only

Reaper

I think you are looking at this backwards. That is not a list of banks that are part of the passport exemption, it is a list of banks that are part of the passport exemption and which have chosen to top up beyond that with the FSCS.

I assume there are others which have chosen not to top up, though I don't know where to find a list.

antilles

Isn't there a list on here? http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe-savings#foreign

cwcw

Reaper wrote: »

I think you are looking at this backwards. That is not a list of banks that are part of the passport exemption, it is a list of banks that are part of the passport exemption and which have chosen to top up beyond that with the FSCS.

I assume there are others which have chosen not to top up, though I don't know where to find a list.

Yes I think you're right. This is a list of banks who are members of the passort scheme but also have cover beyond that first amount with the FSCS. However since the passport scheme covers at least the first £16k, and more in some cases, then for most people the FSCS part will be irrelevant.

If I was looking for a bank to put my savings in, it would be 100% FSCS up to £50k and not connected to the passport scheme. So for me, this rules out ING, who previously had my savings before Icesave stole them.

Reaper

I think it is far from comprehensive. At the bottom it says:

Covers foreign banks in Top Savings Account or Top Cash ISA articles

So it's not all of them.

PS: I was referring to Martin's list linked to in post 3

occamsrazor

If you're going to post a list, make sure it isn't misleading...

e.g. Anglo Irish Bank Corporation is under a 100%-of-all-savings direct guarantee by the Irish Government (bypassing any normal compensation scheme)

cvd

100%-of-all-savings direct guarantee by the Irish Government

And we all know the value of 100% guarantees from foreign governments, don't we?

cwcw

occamsrazor wrote: »

If you're going to post a list, make sure it isn't misleading...

e.g. Anglo Irish Bank Corporation is under a 100%-of-all-savings direct guarantee by the Irish Government (bypassing any normal compensation scheme)

Sorry! Wish I hadn't bothered now. This is a list from the official FSCS website! I just wanted people to be aware of which banks fall into basically the same category as Icesave so that they don't make the same mistake that me, and 299,999 others made.

TypeR

As I stated on the other thread, in my eyes the Passport Exemption scheme is critically ill now, the precident has been set - the icelandic government has stuck it's fingers up to it.

So I'll be now avoiding all banks that employ these compensation methods. This time we were very very very lucky.

occamsrazor

I agree the passport scheme does look unreliable now. But there is a huge difference between Iceland's ill-funded depositor's guarantee scheme, and a direct guarantee by the Irish Government.

BritRael

I was looking only this morning at opening an account with ING Direct and it mentioned this 'passport scheme' which I had never heard of before. After looking on their site for an explanation it said they guarentee up to 100,000 Euro's. This seems to me (unless I'm reading it wrongly - if so, please feel free to correct me) that they are protecting more than the UK.