Very worrying stop press news re Anglo Irish

melbury

masonic wrote: »

It's not that simple. Some foreign banks (e.g. ICICI, Firstsave) are 100% covered by the FSCS, whilst at least one bank that might be widely thought to be a UK institution (the Post Office) is not covered. The important thing is to clarify whether or not an organisation is exclusively a member of the FSCS, or whether some/all of the money is covered by a foreign compensation scheme.

When I took out the fixed rate bond with Anglo Irish Bank in 2007 it was definitely covered under the UK compensation scheme. Now Anglo Irish did not contact me and say would I be happy for them to go ahead and change the rules and, if not, would I like my money back with the appropriate interest added for the length of time it had been invested. I was given no choice.

The goal posts were moved without even asking depositors, so how can some people on here say that it is "tough luck" and we shouldn't have invested in a foreign bank??

I don't consider Anglo Irish Bank to be as "foreign" and the Icelandic Bank and investors in that bank are being compensated.

Undoubtedly the pledge from the Irish Government last autumn did result in a surge of investors into the Irish Banks.

Energize

baby_boomer wrote: »

When are we going to stop subsidising every crap foreign bank that poaches UK savings and teach savers some personal responsibility?

When banks UK banks become competitive and start offering decent rates and the people at the BOE stop reducing rates like crazy?

savetilibleed

From their FAQ's on their website:

"Your deposits are protected under the Irish Deposit Protection Scheme ("Irish Scheme").
In September 2008, the Irish Deposit Protection Scheme was increased to €100,000 (circa £95,000 at 2 January 2009 exchange rates) per customer. Consequently, the protection you receive from the Irish Scheme is greater than that available under the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“UK Scheme”).

Under European law, banks which have a greater level of protection in their state of incorporation are not permitted to remain a member of the UK Scheme. Consequently, Anglo Irish Bank ceased to be a member of the UK Scheme on 28 November 2008."

masonic

melbury wrote: »

When I took out the fixed rate bond with Anglo Irish Bank in 2007 it was definitely covered under the UK compensation scheme. Now Anglo Irish did not contact me and say would I be happy for them to go ahead and change the rules and, if not, would I like my money back with the appropriate interest added for the length of time it had been invested. I was given no choice.

I think you are mistaken. It was definitely covered under the Passport scheme before September 2008, with the first €20,000 of deposits being covered under the Irish compensation scheme only. At that time, the compensation was topped up by the UK scheme for savings between €20,000-£35,000, but the first €20,000 had to come from Ireland. The rules did not changed. What changed was the level of compensation in Ireland, which went from €20,000 to €100,000 (and then unlimited), meaning there was nothing left for the FSCS to cover.

FraudBuster

This account has never been protected by the UK savings scheme, it's always been covered by the Irish scheme, which covers an unlimited amount of savings until 2010. It's important to understand that money in this account depends on the solidity and solvency of the Irish state, not the UK and it's important to consider that before depositing cash.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest#bestbuys

baby_boomer

masonic wrote: »

Once the Government's guarantee expires, the money will be covered by the Irish compensation scheme up to €100,000.

Coincidentally, but perhaps not, on the MoneyFacts savings tables, Anglo-Irish Bank has the top four deals for fixed rate bonds of two years and above .

I'm not going to "take advantage" of these rates.

Dublin gets jittery

iii

"The Irish government is placing heavy restrictions on the accounts of major debtors of Anglo Irish Bank under legislation nationalising the top-3 bank.

Under the draft law, which will be debated in parliament on Tuesday, anyone who owes the commercial lender 20 million euros ($26.5 million) or more will be prevented from withdrawing money if the total in their accounts would drop below the amount owed....."

I personally wouldn't rely on the Irish government for help after the 2010 FSCS guarantee runs out in 2010. They will have a hard time keeping their own people happy as the Irish economy looks even more of a basket case than the UK. With unemployment soaring and assets plumeting, they'll not be too concerned with treating foreigners better than they have to.

melbury

masonic wrote: »

I think you are mistaken. It was definitely covered under the Passport scheme before September 2008, with the first €20,000 of deposits being covered under the Irish compensation scheme only. At that time, the compensation was topped up by the UK scheme for savings between €20,000-£35,000, but the first €20,000 had to come from Ireland. The rules did not changed. What changed was the level of compensation in Ireland, which went from €20,000 to €100,000 (and then unlimited), meaning there was nothing left for the FSCS to cover.

No, sorry but I think you are mistaken.

I have just looked out my original paperwork from them when I took out my bond and this what it says, bearing in mind of course this was before the the figure was raised to £50,000, quote:

Anglo Irish Bank is authorised by the Financial Services Authority to receive deposits in the UK. Anglo Irish Bank is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the UK. Payments under the scheme are limited to 100% of the first £2,000 and 90% of the next £33,000 of a depositor's total deposits with Anglo Irish Bank subject to a maximum payment to any one depositor of £31,700.

I also telephoned them twice to confirm this fact because I was so jittery after the Northern Rock debacle.

melbury

FraudBuster wrote: »

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest#bestbuys

Please see my previous post. If this is the case, I just don't understand why they printed on their literature that depositors were covered by the UK scheme - were they lying??

soulsaver

masonic wrote: »

Once the Government's guarantee expires, the money will be covered by the Irish compensation scheme up to €100,000.

That's correct - and in addition to that the Irish Gov guarantee is up to Sept 2010
And in addition to that the Anglo guaantee is now as long as the Irish Gov own it... so after 2010, too.

soulsaver

melbury wrote: »

Please see my previous post. If this is the case, I just don't understand why they printed on their literature that depositors were covered by the UK scheme - were they lying??

It's because Martins statement read literally is incorrect.
Anglp Irish prior to Sept 08 were covered uo to Eoru20k, and were covered by the passport scheme for the difference between 20k euros and £35k from the UKs FSCS. All change at the start of October 08):
UK upped limit to £50k instead of £35k, but Ireland upped their depositor guarantee to E100k AND the Irish Govt said they'd meet 100% of ALL the deposits in their big 6 Irish banks (not all banks operating in Ireland).
Now this took a while for the dust to settle, get the mechanics sorted, clarified which banks, branches, subsidiaries, bills passed etc. So now AI has got round to changing its paperwork to reflect those changes, nothing new.

Now what keeps getting missed on here is it's not the banks that change the compensation application rules, its the EU. And their rule is if the parental country's compensation scheme exceeds the local scheme, then the parental scheme applies, so that depositors get more compensation. SO:
Anglo Irish UK is covered by both the Irish Gov 100%pledge, AND the Irish Depositors Guarantee(equiv of our FSCS) E100K so BOTH exceeding UK scheme - so its the Irish scheme that applies.
The fact that its not in the FSCS is not a decision of the bank, its EU law.