With hardly a day passing without a bank collapsing or needing to be rescued, you could be forgiven for wondering whether there are any financial institutions left where you can safely deposit your hard earned cash.

If you want a copper-bottomed guarantee of security, there isn’t much to beat National Savings & Investments (NS&I)  www.nsandi.com/which offers a range of taxable, tax-free and index-linked certificates and premium bonds.

It does not offer a traditional bank-type account with cheque book but its Easy Access savings account provides a cash card which can be used to withdraw money at ATMs.

Northern Rock savings accounts (http://www.northernrock.co.uk)  are also guaranteed by the Government, at least  until further notice, so you could put your money with it for the time being until it is sold off or wound up.

A third option is certain Irish banks and building societies following the Irish government’s announcement that it will guarantee the safety of all deposits in six of its principal savings institutions.

The latter are the Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Bank (AIB), Anglo Irish Bank (AIB) and two building societies -  the Educational and the Irish Nationwide. The sixth is Irish Life and Permanent, Ireland’s largest life insurance company.
 
The guarantee lasts for the next two years and AIB, Anglo Irish Bank and the Bank of Ireland all have branches in the UK.

The announcement by the Irish Department of Finance appears to cover all depositors of these institutuions, even for those located outside Ireland.

Anglo Irish Bank has been actively seeking deposits from savers in England and Scotland for the last two years, with competitive rates of interest on its Easy Access, 7 Day account and nine month bond. It was adamant yesterday that the safety guarantee applied to all depositors, irrespective of their location.

Bank of Ireland has 46 branches in Northern Ireland and 11 offices in England and Scotland. It also runs the financial services division of the UK Post Office and has about 1.5m customers with deposit accounts through this brand.

Anglo Irish Bank has seven branches in England and Scotland, while Allied Irish Bank has 27 branches in England, Scotland and Wales and 47 in Northern Ireland.

Defaqto banking principal David Black, says:  “It’s a great move on the part of the Irish government to instill confidence. Anglo Irish Bank has had consistently competitive rates in recent years.” 

For top paying savings accounts visit:
http://www.defaqto.com/consumer/savings-accounts/instant-access-accounts.aspx
http://www.defaqto.com/consumer/savings-accounts/notice-savings-accounts.aspx
http://www.defaqto.com/consumer/savings-accounts/regular-savings-accounts.aspx
http://www.defaqto.com/consumer/savings-accounts/childrens-

www.angloirishbank.co.uk
http://www.bank-of-ireland.co.uk/
http://www.aib.ie/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=AIB_Ireland/IHPHomepage