Eurozone and FSCS protection
21 May 2012 02:05 PM
The continuing debate about the future of the Euro may be worrying for UK savers. However, savers do enjoy protection.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protects people who place their money with UK authorised firms. Since 2001, FSCS has paid out more than £26bn and helped more than 4.5m people.
FSCS protects investments, insurance and savings. This includes the money you have in UK banks, building societies and credit unions. The £85,000 deposit limit per means FSCS safeguards the overwhelming majority of people. It is a personal allowance so a joint account would have protection up to £170,000 per authorised institution. FSCS aims to pay the majority of savers back within seven days of a firm failing.
European banks operating branches in the UK under European directives are covered by the compensation scheme in that country. The current European limit for banks is €100,000. You can find more information on which banks are UK authorised on the Financial Services Authority website.
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