What is the position for people who have an account with a UK branch of a European bank?
If you have an account with a UK branch of a bank incorporated in the European Economic Area (EEA) that becomes insolvent, we may also be able to help. Under the EU Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive, all member states of the EEA are required to establish a deposit guarantee scheme which gives a minimum level of protection for depositors of 20,000 Euros per eligible depositor in the event of a bank failure. A bank established in another EEA state should be a member of that state’s compensation scheme, which is designed to protect depositors in that EEA country, and those with accounts at branches in other EEA countries. Where the bank’s home state scheme provides a lower limit of compensation than FSCS (i.e. less than 100% of £50,000), or the scope of protection is less than FSCS’s, the bank may choose to join FSCS to ‘top up’ the level of protection offered by the home state scheme. The link below leads to a list of banks that have topped up into the UK Scheme with their FSA referenc
