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UK Banks and Building Societies

The tables below show a comprehensive list of UK banks and building societies and their license holders, which can be different to bank ownership. Please note that this Bank Directory does not include foreign owned banks or financial institutions.

FSCS Compensation Scheme

All UK banks and building societies are registered with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and if the firm is regulated all deposits are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Following changes to European legislation, in January 2011 the FSCS deposit compensation threshold increased to €100,000 or around £85,000 providing further protection to UK depositors.

It’s worth noting that FSCS compensation applies per institution, so if you have more than £85,000 invested with any one bank or building society it is sensible to spread the investment between different providers. Rather confusingly, different banking institutions operate under a number of brands so it is important to identify whether all brands are separately registered with the FSA, or whether a single registration covers the whole group. For example a number of brands operate under the HBOS license including Birmingham Midshires and the AA – so if you have savings with each of these providers only £85,000 is covered.

Recent Bank Mergers and Acquisitions

In the last few years there have been many profound changes affecting the United Kingdom retail banking sector, including the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS PLC. In addition, several UK building societies have merged or been acquired by foreign banks during the period and most significantly Northern Rock has been nationalised following its near collapse in 2008 and subsequently acquired by Virgin Money in early January 2012.

Useful Information

	Financial Services Authority - A list of banks registered in the UK that should be part of the FSCS Compensation Scheme.
	Useful economic reports from the Bank of England can be found in the Financial Stability report

UK Banks

UK Bank	Bank License Holder	UK Bank
Alliance and Leicester License Holder: Santander UK plc		Lloyds TSB License Holder: Lloyds Banking Group plc
Barclays Bank License Holder: Barclays Bank plc		Natwest License Holder: Natwest
Cahoot Average Customer Rating: License Holder: Santander UK plc		Royal Bank of Scotland Average Customer Rating: License Holder: Royal Bank of Scotland plc
Coutts & Co License Holder: Royal Bank of Scotland plc		Sainsbury's Bank License Holder: Sainsbury's Bank plc
Egg License Holder: Egg Banking PLC		Santander License Holder: Santander UK plc
First Direct License Holder: HSBC Bank plc		Smile License Holder: Co-operative Group
Halifax License Holder: HBOS (see note)		Tesco Bank License Holder: Tesco PLC
HSBC Average Customer Rating: License Holder: HSBC Bank plc		Unity Trust Bank plc Average Customer Rating: License Holder: Unity Trust Bank Ltd
Intelligent Finance License Holder:HBOS (see note)		Virgin Money License Holder: Virgin Group plc
Isle of Man Bank License Holder: Royal Bank of Scotland plc		Yorkshire Bank License Holder: National Australia Bank Group

Note: Following the Lloyds TSB and HBOS merger in January 2009, previous Lloyds TSB savers retain separate cover to previous HBOS savers.

UK Building Societies

Disclaimer

This Bank Directory page is provided in good faith and all information contained is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of preparation . However UK banks and building societies merge and change bank licenses on a fairly regular basis, as well as being the subject of mergers and acquisitions. For this reason the Business Directory makes no warranty concerning the accuracy of information provided and usage of this list is entirely at your own risk.

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