Who owns who and who has a banking licence?

See Moneyfacts.co.uk’s list of who owns who and who has a banking licence for all of the main UK banks.  

Under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme your cash deposits are protected up to £50,000 per institution, not for each savings account held. Our list will show you which savings brands operate under which institution’s FSA authorisation (or banking licence) so that you can make sure your savings are safe.

It’s important to check which savings institution is covered under which banking licence. For example, Halifax and Bank of Scotland only have one banking licence, meaning you're only covered once up to £50,000, whereas Nat West and RBS have separate banking licences, meaning you’re covered for both savings accounts held separately with Nat West and RBS up to the full amount of £50,000.

It’s not just about who owns which brands as some companies offering savings plans, like Norwich Union and Virgin 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 http://www.bsa.org.uk. 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.

TRY THE NEW ARE MY SAVINGS SAFE CALCULATOR

See the list of who owns who - banks and savings