ING Direct Picks Up Kaupthing Savings
Another day, another take-over: ING Direct is to buy up £3bn worth of British savings held by Kaupthing Edge and Heritable Bank.
The UK arm of Netherlands-based ING Group, ING Direct UK, has taken over £3bn worth of savings accounts from two Icelandic banks -- Kaupthing Edge, the UK arm of Kaupthing Bank, and Heritable Bank, owned by Landsbanki.
Landsbanki folded yesterday and Kaupthing is in deep trouble this morning. Chancellor Alistair Darling told the House of Commons at lunchtime that the savings accounts operated by Heritable Bank and Kaupthing Edge in the UK have been transferred to ING Direct. This should be welcome news for savers as the credit swap rates for ING suggest that the Dutch bank appears to be safe. Savers with Kaupthing no longer need fret about whether their bank is about to go under.
How are ING accounts regulated?
ING Direct’s customer deposits are safeguarded using a ‘passport’ scheme -- which means that, up to a certain limit, customers’ money is assured by the Dutch government rather than our own Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
The Dutch government increased the maximum limit on its savings protection scheme yesterday. As a result, the first €100,000 (approximately £77,700) of ING Direct customers’ savings is guaranteed by the Dutch Investors Compensation Scheme. Effectively, this means that the official level of protection on offer outstrips that from the FSCS (which now offers a £50,000 guarantee).
However, after Alistair Darling’s dramatic announcement this morning that 100% of Icesave customers’ money will be returned to them, I’m not sure theoretical guarantees like this really mean very much in practice. It looks like the Chancellor is willing to compensate all UK savers if they lose money. (Although he hasn't issued a formal 100% guarantee.)
None of the banks involved in the take-over deal are currently willing to comment on the move, or give details of what it will mean for savers.
However, as soon as more information becomes available, I’ll update this article with the news.
More: Darling Backs Icesave | Ensure Your Savings Are Safe! | Which Banks Are Connected?
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I tried to transfer my balance on 7th October and the money left my account instantly (almost). I'm still waiting for it to appear in my funding account. After endless vague messages posted by ING, and endless calls giving non-specific advice I am now awaiting a call (tomorrow latest) with specific information about my account and money. Has everyone else got their money - will I ever get mine?! It's everything I have - and they do not seem to care. How wrong all this is!!
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Fingers crossed we should have have our money tomorrow lets hope so !!
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Just in case you have not seen it yet guys, this has now been posted on ING. [br/][br/]In addition to the payments already made, we are now able to confirm that all payments will arrive in their destination bank account by close of business Friday 17 October. There are a very small number of manual payment instructions which are still being processed and which will take slightly longer.[br/][br/]Once again we apologise for the inconvenience and distress this delay has caused. It has taken us longer to resolve the issues at Kaupthing Edge than we expected due to the significant disruption caused when the business was taken into administration. Understandably, customers have been asking for clarification on when this issue was going to be resolved, but this is the first time we have been in the position to give firm assurances. [br/][br/]Thank you for your patience and we can confirm that customers will not lose interest as a result of this delay.[br/][br/]Great news huh?
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27 October 2008