Savers Concerned Over Possible Downgrading of ING Bank

More than a million of UK savers, who have put their money into savings accounts of ING – a Dutch bank – have become concerned over the safety of their savings as Moody’s, a UK credit rating agency, said it might soon downgrade the bank. Not only a large number of UK savers trusted ING Direct, bank’s online savings arm; many savers saw their savings transferred to ING when it overtook savings accounts from 2 Icelandic banks - Kaupthing Edge and Heritable – that collapsed. The bank’s leading offers for savers pay 3% (given a deposit of £50,000 - £1 million) and 3.25% on Growth Saver and fixed-rate saver accounts. Yet, the deposit guarantee scheme that covers the savings deposited in the Dutch ING bank will pay back no more than £91,745 should any difficulties occur. It has to be noted that in spring West Bromwich, a UK building society, faced criticism for launching savings accounts for deposits of £50,000 and more despite the fact that it has been downgraded by Moody’s and had no support from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for payback of deposits exceeding this amount. The decision of Moody’s concerning the downgrading of the ING bank might take up to 90 days. Moody’s ratings are generally taken very seriously not only by savers and borrowers, but by financial institutions as well. Yet, UK financial experts are determined that savers have no reasons for concern. For instance, Mr. Kevin Mountford, head of savings department at one of online financial sources, said that savers should not panic unless their balances exceed the compensation limit. Moreover, he said, rating agencies downgraded entire governments in the course of the past year – and nothing disastrous happened. ING representatives claim that the rating of the bank is in line with the ratings of other European banks, which means that savers have nothing to worry about.

Most popular searches: investment, investments, investor, invest, investing