What banks are now safe for large depositors?

catflappo

Northern Rock?
Bradford and Bingley?
HBOS, Lloyds?

I've also read that HSBC are deemed to be unaffected by any of all this and depositors are migrating to them very rapidly.

My head is spinning!

Gwhiz

Northern Rock up to the limit of £250K
The other nationalised ones probably the same
Irish Banks - probably the same till 2010

DocProc

Most deposit takers worldwide are given credit ratings by three major independent ratings agencies - Standard & Poor's, Fitch, and Moody's.

The ratings are designed to let other financial institutions know how safe it is to lend money to them - usually through bonds.

They are the agencies' opinion on the likelihood of the debt being repaid - not an investment recommendation for consumers.

A spokesman for Standard & Poor's says: 'Ratings are not an endorsement of a particular bank. They're aimed at the professional investor.'

Despite this, in an uncertain world, they provide a clue to reliability.

Although the rating systems differ slightly across the three agencies, there are broad similarities. The highest rating is AAA with all of them and the lowest is D (S&P and Fitch) and C (Moody's).

By the time you reach the bottom end, you're looking at the firm defaulting on its payments or having extremely poor prospects. AAA to A are all high grade, with shadings provided by a plus or minus sign.

Taken from today's Daily Mail at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1077685/How-does-bank-rate--Bank-ratings-explained.html