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Depositor Protection for UK Savers.

Of course choosing a savings account isn't just a question of headline account interest rate! You'll want to know how protected your money its.

A single saver should be protected for the first £85,000 (£170,000 for joint account holders).

However some banks and building societies operate more than 1 brand under a single registration. If you had accounts with each of two banks sharing a single registration your protection would be only £50,000 (£100,000 for joint account) for both accounts - you would have lost half your protection.

For this reason it is preferable to avoid saving with more than 1 brand that shares such a registration

Bank of Scotland includes: The AA, Birmingham Midshires, Capital Bank, Halifax, Intelligent Finance, Saga, St James Place Bank
Bank of Ireland (UK) plc includes: Post Office
Barclays Bank plc includes: Standard Life Bank
Clydesdale Bank plc includes: Yorkshire Bank
Co-operative Bank plc includes: Britannia and Smile
Coventry Building Society includes: Stroud & Swindon Building Society
Lloyds TSB Bank includes Cheltenham & Gloucester
Co-operative Bank plc includes: Co-operative Bank, Britannia and Smile
HSBC plc includes: First Direct
Nationwide Building Society includes Cheshire Building Society, Derbyshire Building Society and Dunfermline Building Society
Royal Bank of Scotland plc includes Childs Bank, Direct Line, Drummonds, Holts
Santander UK plc includes: Alliance & Leicester, Bradford & Bingley and Cahoot
Skipton Building Society includes: Chesham Building Society, Castle Money and the Scarborough Building Society
Virgin Money plc includes: Northern Rock
Yorkshire Building Society includes Barnsley Building Society, Chelsea Building Society, Egg, Norwich & Peterborough Building Society

In some cases preexisting rights to separate compensation survive a merger.

At time of publication the following have a single registration:

Cambridge Building Society
Cater Allen Ltd
Citibank NA
Coutts & Co
Cumberland Building Society
Furness Building Society
Hinckley & Rugby Building Society
HFC Bank
Investec Bank
Leeds Building Society
Leek Building Society
Lloyds TSB Scotland
Manchester Building Society
Marks & Spencer Money
Monmouthshire Building Society
National Counties Building Society
Natwest
Newbury Building Society
Newcastle Building Society
Nottingham Building Society
Principality Building Society
Progessive Building Society
Saffron Building Society
Sainsburys Bank plc
Standard Chartered Bank
Tesco Personal Finance plc
Ulster Bank Ltd
Unity Trust Bank plc
West Bromwich Building Society

For futher details please see: FSA