FSCS protection for Plum Cash ISA - split between 3 banks

bright_king7

Hello. My question is about the Plum Cash ISA in particular but a general question about FSCS protection when the savings "bank" is not actually a banking institution but holds its savings in other banking institutions. Plum says that funds saved in its cash ISA is actually held in Citibank, Lloyds and Qatar National Bank, and each of these has its own FSCS protection (https://help.withplum.com/en/articles/9414451-cash-isa-protection). I don't know the proportion saved in each one, but let's say it is equally split, i.e. 33% in each one.

Would this mean that the £85,000 protection, applied to each bank individually, results in up to £255,000 (£85,000 times 3) protection in this cash ISA (also assuming that there are no savings elsewhere with these three banks)? It seems like a strange quirk given that some cash ISA providers hold their money in 5+ banking institutions and so the protection can become very large!

masonic

That is how it works, providing the money is actually deposited correctly. Any other savings you held with the banks in question would also count towards the limit.

As Plum operates as an e-money institution, any money not actually deposited with the banks is only protected by the rather weak "safeguarding".