What is a British Bank?

short_of_a_shilling!

UK savers have been told by the Government that their savings are safe in British banks, but what does the Government see as a ‘British Bank’?
Is ING Direct seen as British? It would seem that it is actually a Dutch bank, part of the ING Group, which is part of the KFS which describes itself as a UK Bank, UK authorised and regulated. Does that make it a 'British Bank'?

How about The Santander Bank, Spain's most important private bank. UK authorised and regulated. Does that make it a 'British Bank'?

In the event that one of these banks collapsed, would I be trying to get me my money back through the British system? :cool:

bjorn_again

ING deposits are guaranteed by the Dutch Government up to 100,000 Euro under the passport scheme. If ING went bust you would apply to the Dutch Government for compensation.
If Santander went bust you would be covered for up to a total of £50,000 by the British FSCS for combined deposits in Abbey and B&B.
More knowledgeable posters may correct me if I am wrong.

eeja

short_of_a_shilling! wrote: »

UK savers have been told by the Government that their savings are safe in British banks, but what does the Government see as a ‘British Bank’?
Is ING Direct seen as British? It would seem that it is actually a Dutch bank, part of the ING Group, which is part of the KFS which describes itself as a UK Bank, UK authorised and regulated. Does that make it a 'British Bank'?

How about The Santander Bank, Spain's most important private bank. UK authorised and regulated. Does that make it a 'British Bank'?

In the event that one of these banks collapsed, would I be trying to get me my money back through the British system? :cool:

Fabulous question ! Is the word 'British' the adjective of 'Britain' , the adjective of 'Great Britain' or an adjective of the 'UK' ?
and why is there no adjective 'Great British' or 'UK- ish' ?
The country name Britain comes from the latin 'Britannia' which basically means England. When Scotland joined the Union in 1707 the country became Great(er) Britain. The name UK was invented to include N.Ireland but excludes IOM and the Channel Isles.
So what is a British bank ? An English one (in the narrow meaning) or in fact a UK bank ( in the wider sense) which would include Ulster Bank .
And what about the poor IOM and Channel Islanders ...I suppose their true description (which at least exists) is British Islanders.
NB PLEASE do not ask where the Pricipality of Wales fits in to all this !

Lansdowne

Not really. 'Britannia' to the Romans became Great Britain (Grande-Bretagne) to distinguish it from Brittany (Bretagne). Union with Scotland formed the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain' or 'Britain' for short. That is, the UK was formed from uniting the two kingdoms. Union with Ireland (not Northern Ireland) came later.

What is a British bank? It is whatever British (UK) legislation says it is for any particular purpose.

dunstonh

In this sense of FSCS it is any bank that is a member of the FSCS. In the sense of the Govt stepping in and saving it, it would mean one that is listed on the UK stock exchange. The UK Govt would not be able to step in and save Santander if it was to fail as it is Spanish. However, Santander is cash rich so its not going to fail (hence why it was able to buy A&L and B&B deposits at a time when things are tight).

Oblivion

Lansdowne wrote: »

Union with Ireland (not Northern Ireland) came later.

Was that meant to read ... Union with Northern Ireland (not Eire) came later ... ?

Dave.

innovate

dunstonh wrote: »

I However, Santander is cash rich so its not going to fail (hence why it was able to buy A&L and B&B deposits at a time when things are tight).

Hmh, bold statement ("it's not going to fail")!

To me, the fact that a bank buys another is not much proof that all's well - see RBS as a case in point!!!

Also, there are now some voices in the industry that are getting concerned about Santander's ongoing buying spree - they could be stretching themselves too far by buying troubled banks around the globe (I believe their latest target is some north american bank). They also have, like any major spanish company, a lot of interests in South America and are very directly exposed to economic developments there.

Having said this, Santander seems currently in reasonable shape, not least because regulation in Spain is somewhat tighter than in many other countries.

The main thing for all of us is now to make sure, as far as possible, that our money is protected by the FSCS. The more daring (which no longer includes me, after the Iceland debacle) might also consider passport protection schemes. And then we can but hope that people (not just people running banks) become a bit more prudent with loans and mortgages because if they don't, the whole system will spin out of control.

jammin_2

Oblivion wrote: »

Was that meant to read ... Union with Northern Ireland (not Eire) came later ... ?

Dave.

No, Lansdowne is entirely correct. The "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" was the name of our nation from 1st January 1801 until 12th April 1927.

dunstonh

To me, the fact that a bank buys another is not much proof that all's well - see RBS as a case in point!!!

Who have they bought during the banking crisis?