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Bank Licence List - Investor Compensation

Detailed below is a large list of Banks trading (and former trading names) in the UK.  It is not complete but covers all the major banking groups.

Why is the Bank Licence list so important?  Quite simply the Financial Services Compensation Scheme protects cash investors up to £50,000 per person per Banking Licence.  Therefore, you should have no more than £50,000 with any one banking licence.   For example Bank of Scotland plc has 7 'trading Bank names' to our knowledge, you should ideally have no more than £50,000 combined investment across them all.

Where are the Building Societies in the list?  Building Societies are licenced under the Building Society Act and each individual Building Society has its own licence and therefore each one has its own £50,000 protection limit.  They are not like banks where many names trade under one licence.

• Watch Building Society Mergers:  When Building Societies Merge e.g. Nationwide Building Society and Cheshire Building Society, two seperate individual protection limits of £50,000 i.e. a total of £100,000 reduce to one limit of £50,000.  NOTE:  * A temporary concession is now in place for certain Building Society mergers where two protection level limits remain despite any merger, check with your Building Society to see if this concession applies to you.

EEA Passport Licence:  This is where European Banks 'passport' there services into the UK under under an EEA European Economic Area 'Passport'.  You will normally be protected under their 'home' nation compensation scheme and not in the UK unless they have 'topped up' under the UK FSCS top up scheme.  Contact us for more information on this.

• AA Financial Services - Owner - Centrica - Bank Licence - Bank of Scotland plc
• Abbey - Owner - Banco Santander Central Hispano - Bank Licence - Abbey National plc
• Alliance & Leicester - Owner - Banco Santander Central Hispano - Bank Licence - Alliance & Leicester plc
• Allied Irish Bank - Owner - Allied Irish Bank plc - Bank Licence - Allied Irish Banks plc (EEA Passport - Ireland)
• Allied Irish Bank (GB) - Owner - Allied Irish Bank plc - Bank Licence - AIB Group (UK) plc
• Anglo Irish Bank - Owner - Anglo Irish Bank Corporation plc - Bank Licence - Anglo Irish Bank Corporation plc (EEA - Ireland)
• ASDA - Owner - Wallmart Corporation - Bank Licence - Bradford & Bingley plc
• Bank of Cyprus - Owner - Bank of Cyprus Public Company Limited - Bank Licence - Bank of Cyprus Public Company Limited (EEA - Cyprus)
• Bank of Ireland (NI) - Owner - Bank of Ireland Group - Bank Licence - The Bank of Ireland (EEA Passport - Ireland)
• Bank of Ireland GB - Owner - Bank of Ireland Group - Bank Licence - The Bank of Ireland (EEA Passport - Ireland)
• Bank of Scotland - Owner - HBOS - Bank Licence - Bank of Scotland plc
• Barclays Bank - Owner - Barclays Bank plc - Bank Licence - Barclays Bank plc
• Birmingham Midshires Solutions - Owner - HBOS - Bank Licence - Bank of Scotland plc
• Bradford & Bingley - Owner - Banco Santander Central Hispano - Bank Licence - Bradford & Bingley plc
• Butterfield Private Bank - Owner - The Bank of N.T.Butterfield & Son Limited - Bank Licence - Butterfield Bank (UK) Ltd
• C Hoare & Co - Owner - C Hoare & Co - Bank Licence - C Hoare & Co
• Cahoot - Owner - Banco Santander Central Hispano - Bank Licence - Abbey National plc
• Capital One Savings - Owner - Capital One Financial Corporation - Bank Licence - Capital One Bank (Europe) plc.
• Cater Allen Private Bank - Owner - Banco Santander Central Hispano - Bank Licence - Cater Allen Ltd
• Cheltenham & Gloucester - Owner - Lloyds TSB Group plc - Bank Licence - Lloyds TSB Bank plc
• Citibank - Owner - Citigroup Inc (USA) - Bank Licence - Citibank International plc
• Close Brothers - Owner - Close Brothers - Bank Licence - Close Brothers Ltd
• Clydesdale Bank - Owner - National Australia Bank Group - Bank Licence - Clydesdale Bank plc
• Co-operative Bank - Owner - Co-operative Group - Bank Licence - Co-Operative Bank plc
• Coutts & Co - Owner - Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc - Bank Licence - Coutts & Co
• Direct Line - Owner - Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc - Bank Licence - Royal Bank of Scotland plc
• Egg - Owner - Citigroup Inc (USA) - Bank Licence - Egg Banking plc
• First Direct - Owner - HSBC Bank plc - Bank Licence - HSBC Bank plc
• First Trust Bank - Owner - Irish Bank plc - Bank Licence - AIB Group (UK) plc
• First Trust Bank (NI) - Owner - Allied Irish Bank plc - Bank Licence - AIB Group (UK) plc
• Halifax - Owner - HBOS - Bank Licence - Bank of Scotland plc
• Heritable Bank - Owner - Landsbanki Group - Bank Licence - Savings Division transferred to:ING Direct NV (EEA  Passport - Netherlands)
• HSBC - Owner- HSBC Bank plc - Bank Licence - HSBC Bank plc
• ICICI - Owner - ICICI Bank Ltd - Bank Licence - ICICI Bank UK Ltd
• Icesave - Owner - Landsbanki Group - Bank Licence - Landsbanki hf. (EEA Passport - Iceland)
• ING Direct - Owner - ING Direct NV, part of ING (International Netherlands Group) - Bank Licence - ING Direct NV (EEA - Netherlands)
• Intelligent Finance - Owner - Halifax plc, part of HBOS - Bank Licence - Bank of Scotland plc
• Investec Bank (UK) - Owner - Investec Private Bank - Bank Licence - Investec Bank (UK) Ltd
• Julian Hodge - Owner - Julian Hodge Bank - Bank Licence - Julian Hodge Bank Ltd
• Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (UK) - Owner - Kaupthing Bank hf - Bank Licence - Savings Division transferred to:ING Direct NV (EEA Passport - Netherlands)
• Laiki Bank - Owner - The Cyprus Popular Bank Public Company Ltd - Bank Licence - Marfin Popular Bank Public Company Ltd (EEA Passport - Cyprus)
• Lloyds TSB - Owner - Lloyds TSB Group plc - Bank Licence - LloydsTSB Bank plc
• London Scottish Bank - Owner - London Scottish Bank plc - Bank Licence - London Scottish Bank plc
• Marks & Spencer Money - Owner - HSBC Bank plc - Bank Licence - Marks & Spencer Financial Services plc
• MBNA Savings - Owner - Bank of America - Bank Licence - Bank of America NA
• National Savings - Owner - UK Government State Owned - NO Bank Licence
• NatWest - Owner - Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc - Bank Licence - National Westminster Bank plc
• Northern Bank - Owner - Danske Bank Group - Bank Licence - Northern Bank Limited
• Northern Bank NI - Owner - Danske Bank Group - Bank Licence - Northern Bank Limited
• Northern Rock - Owner - Northern Rock plc - Bank Licence - Northern Rock plc
• Norwich Union - Owner - Aviva plc - Bank Licence - Bank of Scotland plc
• Post Office Financial Services - Owner - Royal Mail Group plc - Bank Licence - The Bank of Ireland (EEA Passport - Ireland)
• Royal Bank of Scotland - Owner - Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc - Bank Licence - Royal Bank of Scotland plc
• S G Hambros Bank (Gibraltar) - Owner - Société Générale Group - Bank Licence - Société Générale
• Saga - Owner - Saga Limited - Bank Licence - Bank of Scotland plc
• Sainsbury's Bank - Owner - Sainsbury's Bank plc (50% owned by Bank of Scotland, a subsidiary of HBOS plc, 50% by J Sainsbury plc) - Bank Licence - Sainsbury's Bank
• Scottish Widows Bank - Owner - Lloyds TSB Group plc - Bank Licence - Scottish Widows Bank plc
• Secure Trust Bank - Owner - Arbuthnot Banking Group plc - Bank Licence - Secure Trust Bank plc
• Smile - Owner - Co-operative Group - Bank Licence - Co-Operative Bank plc
• Standard Bank - Owner - Standard Bank Group - Bank Licence - Standard Bank plc
• Standard Life Bank - Owner - Standard Life Assurance Limited, part of Standard Life plc - Bank Licence - Standard Life Bank Ltd
• Tesco Personal Finance - Owner - Tesco plc. - Bank Licence - Tesco Personal Finance Limited
• Triodos Bank - Owner - Triodos Bank NV - Bank Licence -Triodos Bank NV (EEA Passport - Netherlands)
• Ulster Bank Limited - Owner - Royal Bank of Scotland Group pl - Bank Licence - Ulster Bank Limited
• Virgin Money - Owner - Virgin Group - Bank Licence - Royal Bank of Scotland plc
• Wesleyan Savings Bank - Owner - Wesleyan Savings Bank Ltd - Bank Licence - Wesleyan Bank Limited
• Yorkshire Bank - Owner - National Australia Bank Group - Bank Licence - Clydesdale Bank Ltd