Banking brands

okthought

I really like this website but why, oh why, does it still refer to the now-defunct HBOS? For example, the savings accounts section mentions “Shared £85,000 FSCS protection with HBOS group” for both Intelligent Finance and AA products.

Since the area of the site that covers compensation sharing hasn’t been updated recently, I didn't feel I could rely on its information and tried to check which brands currently share protection on the FSCS’s website, from which I was referred to the FSA’s website. This was hard enough as it was, but I also wasted quite a bit of time looking for HBOS, which as far as I can see was only a holding company and so has never been authorised as a deposit-taker by the FSA.

Eventually, I remembered that HBOS had been rescued by the Lloyds Banking Group, which also has never been authorised as a deposit-taker by the FSA, although its components Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland are authorised and have various brands that share their respective FSCS protections.

I helpfully emailed MartinATmoneysavingexpert.com to mention that MSE doesn't have reliable information on compensation sharing and also refers to a banking group that no longer exists, but I have received a message that my email was deleted without being read, so it appears that it was not even read by the MSE team. :-(

ColdIron

Which have a pretty comprehensive list

http://www.which.co.uk/money/savings-and-investments/guides/are-my-savings-safe/who-owns-who-in-the-savings-market/

okthought

Thanks, CI. That's a very good listing, although they don't actually say when it was last updated. At least MSE's Are Your Savings Safe? clearly states that it hasn't been updated since 11 Oct 2011.

opinions4u

HBOS still exists as a legal entity. Its main retail banking licence since 2007 has been the Bank of Scotland one.

MSE could reasonably argue that despite the creation of LBG nothing has actually changed.

innovate

The MSE list is pretty much spot-on - in fact, I think the only thing that's wrong about it is the 'date last updated' since it was definitely updated at least once since October 2011 (adding Bank of Cyprus in June 2012).

If you want it from the horse's mouth, go to the FSA website. I would be surprised if you found anything instrumentally different when it come to FSCS cover. http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumerinformation/uk_groups

Sceptic001

okthought wrote: »

At least MSE's Are Your Savings Safe? clearly states that it hasn't been updated since 11 Oct 2011.

Sadly I don't think the good people at MSE Towers are quite as assiduous as they used to be when it comes to accuracy. I twice reported a (small but significant) error on that same page which came to light in a thread back in September regarding EEA/EU-based banks, once to the brokenlinks mse email address and when that went unanswered, to the martin mse email address (receipt of which was acknowledged) . It has still not been corrected.

okthought

opinions4u wrote: »

HBOS still exists as a legal entity. Its main retail banking licence since 2007 has been the Bank of Scotland one.

MSE could reasonably argue that despite the creation of LBG nothing has actually changed.

That's interesting, but I don't think HBOS is mentioned anywhere on the FSA's site (logical, since it isn't an authorised bank) or in MSE's own lists on Are Your Savings Safe?, so it is still unhelpful of MSE to mention HBOS, when the authorised parent is actually Bank of Scotland.

okthought

innovate wrote: »

The MSE list is pretty much spot-on - in fact, I think the only thing that's wrong about it is the 'date last updated' since it was definitely updated at least once since October 2011 (adding Bank of Cyprus in June 2012).

If you want it from the horse's mouth, go to the FSA website. I would be surprised if you found anything instrumentally different when it come to FSCS cover. [LINK REMOVED TO COMPLY WITH NOOB BAN!]

That's good to read, innovate, but sad that the MSE "date last updated" itself wasn't updated!

Yes, the FSA's table to which you linked is very useful, but I don't think it's as comprehensive as Which?'s table. For deposit-takers not shown in these tables, you have to use the FSA's register search engine, which isn't very user-friendly.

innovate

The FSA list might not be presented in a user-friendly manner, but in terms of comprehensiveness it cannot be beaten. Which? and MSE and anyone else are no authorities when it comes to defining/listing FSCS protection. The FSA is.