Are your savings protected by the FSCS.

A number of the best financial savings accounts which are the ones offering the highest interest rates to savers are coming from Non UK Banks, but are they safe? In terms of whether they are safe who outside their boards of directors really knows as after the situations with the likes of Bradford and Bingley, Northern Rock, Icesave, Derbyshire Building Society, Allied Irish Bank, Lehmans and more recently the press coverages re HBOS or RBS it does not appear to matter whether the bank or building society is based in the UK or abroad for problems to occur. BUT as long as they are covered by the FSCS you can sleep at night knowing that up to £85,000 of your savings are protected by the scheme. Personally i now like to split my savings between financial institutions even if they are covered so that if one did fail i would have savings funds available to call on with other financial institutions while i waited for the financial services compensation scheme to kick in. Below are list of banks and building societies that are offering best buys where we have done a bit of research to look at the cover that we would be entitled to as savers. As always do your own research as while the information was correct when we checked it there is the possibilty that it might have changed since although it should be easy to confirm it by looking at the website of the financial orginisation.   The list below is very much work in progress and over time will be added to. Of course if a bank or building society has no best buys in our opinion then we won't be adding them as if they are not offering great savings rates then why invest in them in the first place as their are better homes for your savings.

FIRSTSAVE

Firstsave often seem to have some of the best savings rates on both 30 and 90 day notice accounts and a very good rate on a 1 year fixed rate bond. The Firstsave accounts are FirstSave 30 Day Notice Account FirstSave 90 Day Notice Account FirstSave Easy Access Account FirstSave 1 Year Fixed Rate Bond FirstSave accounts are provided by FBN Bank (UK) Ltd, a UK bank that began trading in 2002 and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.The bank is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme  which gives 100% protection for the first £85,000 of a depositor's total deposits. Customers with joint accounts will be eligible to claim up to £170,000. FBN Bank also subscribes to the banking code of good practice and is covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service, the industry's official complaints-handling body. First Bank of Nigeria is a legitimate bank, It has been established in the UK for five years, is regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is a member of the official industry compensation scheme. Prior to 2002, it was the London branch of its parent company, First Bank of Nigeria, which was founded in 1894 by British shipping magnate Sir Alfred Jones and is now West Africa's oldest and largest bank, with more than 400 branches.The important thing to note is that your savings are covered under the compensation scheme so i will put some of my savings with them as i am look to spread them between a number of financial institutions.

ICICI BANK

ICICI Bank currently have some great rates including the highest savings rate available for a 1 year fixed rate bond. The savings accounts from ICICI bank include ICICI 6 month HiSAVE Fixed Rate Bond, ICICI 12 month HiSAVE Fixed Rate Bond, ICICI 24 Month HiSAVE Fixed Rate Bond, 36 Month HiSAVE Fixed Rate Bond and HiSAVE Savings Account with instant access.  ICICI Bank UK PLC is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme established under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. In respect of deposits with ICICI Bank UK PLC, payments under the Scheme are limited to 100% of the first £85,000 of a depositor's total deposits with the bank. Where two depositors hold a joint account, each depositor may receive a maximum of £85,000 compensation in respect of the claim, giving a total of £170,000. The Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of ICICI Bank Limited As at 31 December 2008, ICICI Bank is India's largest bank in the private sector with total consolidated assets of approximately US$ 100 billion and is the second largest company in India including all public and private enterprises. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on 14 October 2008 that the bank had a strong credit profile, but a relatively low credit rating as it is rated on a stand-alone basis. But given its importance to the Indian economy, the agency believes it would 'receive extraordinary systemic support in the event of any financial distress', and is therefore unlikely to fail. The important thing to note is that your savings are covered under the compensation scheme so i will put some of my savings with them as i am look to spread them between a number of financial institutions.