Who Owns Who? - Banks and savings

The following list covers the main UK banks, and, importantly, banking and savings brands. This shows you which brands operate under which firm's  FSA authorisation, which defines how much your savings are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Your cash deposits are protected up to £50,000 per institution, not per account, so it's a good idea to understand who is actually operating your account to make sure you are getting the maximum protection.

And its not just about who owns which brands as some companies offering savings plans, like Norwich Union and Virgin for example, just have commercial relationships with banks to offer these services.

Building Societies are a lot more straightforward. Each is owned by its members and operates under its own deposit taking licence, so we have not listed all the building societies here. A full list is available at the Building Societies Association. It is not known at this time how the merger of the Cheshire and Derbyshire Building Societies into Nationwide will affect this, but the BSA have issued a press release in support of the deal.

Note: Those banks marked with ‘EEA’ are incorporated in Europe, Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein or Gibraltar (The European Economic Area). They may not offer the full £50,000 of protection but some have opted to so. The list of those that have topped-up their protection is available here

Useful Information:

• Financial Services Compensation Scheme
• FSA's consumer website
• Building Societies Association