Icesave Online Savings Review

Overall Rating

SOLID BANK OWNED BY LANDBANSKI, the oldest bank of Iceland, the latter having no government DEBT !!!!!!! Standard&Poor gave her the super AAA rate !!!!
1. there website , limpid concise and so simple to use and understand

2. customer service all time friendly and competent
3. rates extremely competitive, and there new 6month bond is fantastic

NONE!! NO KIDDING!! NONE!!

Heres What ICESAVE says about herself:

Being young, and one of the most high profile savings providers in the UK, we are asked our fair share of questions about who we are and whether we provide a safe home for UK savers.

Being a provider that prides itself on being transparent we thought we'd give you the full picture about our parent bank, Landsbanki, so you can make your mind up for yourself. Landsbanki is:



A well-established bank
We were founded in 1886 and have been operating in the UK since 2000, where we employ more than 500 people.



An international financial services provider
We operate across 17 countries and this geographical diversity means that 42% of our lending and 46% of our net operating income for 2007 was from outside Iceland. Our services include retail and corporate banking, investment banking, capital markets services, asset management and wealth management for private banking customers.



Financially strong
We have very strong capital and liquidity levels (amongst the strongest of many European banks) with ' 8.9billion of liquid assets, over ' 30 billion of total assets and UK loan assets in excess of £5 billion (as at 31 December 2007). This year we have a debt repayment schedule of just ' 800m ' " with liquid assets more than 10 times this repayment schedule we are in an enviable position.

Our current credit ratings, by both Moody's (A2/P1) and Fitch (A/F1), are strong and imply high credit quality and strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. They are similar to many other financial services providers operating in the UK.



Well funded
Unlike many institutions, we are strengthened by a very high ratio of customer deposits to loans - 70% of all loans are funded by customer deposits. This means that we are not heavily reliant on the wholesale capital markets for funding. To put this ratio in context, HBOS (Halifax/Bank of Scotland) has a ratio of 57.5%, Alliance & Leicester 56%, Bradford & Bingley 60% and Lloyds TSB 72.3%. Just before its crisis Northern Rock had a ratio of 25%.



A careful and prudent lender
We have no direct or indirect exposure to the US sub-prime mortgage market or other structured credit products like Collateral Debt Obligations (CDO's), Collateral Loan Obligations (CLO's) and Special Investment Vehicles (SIV's) that have created losses for many banks. Our operations are also principally focused in Western Europe.



Highly profitable
Unlike many other large US and European banks which have posted profit falls and losses last year, we posted a stable pre-tax profit of ' 520 million for 2007. This was as high as 2006 despite all the turbulence in the banking sector you will have read so much about.



Well regulated
We are regulated by the Icelandic regulator (FME) in Iceland and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK. On 7 February 2008, the FME announced that after a routine and stringent 'stress test' of the banking system, we are strong enough to withstand severe shocks to the financial system because of our strong levels of capital.



Whilst we are an international financial services provider our head office is based in Iceland. You may find it reassuring to know:



The Icelandic economy is strong
Iceland's Government enjoys the highest possible credit rating (AAA), with a strong governmental fiscal position. Iceland is the sixth richest economy in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as ranked by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) purchasing power per capita and is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA). Its economy is anchored by industry sectors unaffected by the current worldwide economic downturn, such as food production, technology, natural resources and energy production.



And for your added peace of mind:



You are benefiting from exactly the same level of deposit protection as every bank in the UK
Like savers with any other UK bank, Icesave customers are entitled to deposit protection of up to £35,000 per account holder of all their deposits with us.

The deposit protection is provided by the Icelandic compensation scheme (approximately £15,000) and topped up to £35,000 from the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

In the extremely improbable event of a claim being made under the schemes, the relevant authorities will co-ordinate any claim and will ensure that compensation is paid as promptly as it would be under a single scheme.