The Cantabrian bank will withdraw its offer from the market next midnight. English banks have begun a race to pay their customers’ accounts under pressure from the government and regulators.
Santander UK has said it will stop offering its 5.2% deposit on savings accounts from next midnight Easy Access Limited Edition 3 due to high demand.
The British subsidiary of the Cantabrian bank launched on September 4th – BBVA also did the same in Italy – an offer that placed it in the high-interest range of current accounts, with a 5.2% for 12 months for a maximum of £250,000 (291,000 euros). The deadline expired on September 17, although the bank warned at the time that it could withdraw the money if the product expires, which it will.
The company is chaired by Ana Botin, which has 19,400 employees and 14 million active customers in the UK, and will pay between 2.5% and 3% on remaining current accounts from tomorrow. The product that provides maximum profitability is called Santander Edge Saver, which reaches 7% for sweet months.
The British subsidiary of Santander A movement of this kind happened a little less than a year ago. In October 2022, the company also launched a limited edition deposit, which also secured a leading position in the market with a twelve-month interest rate of 2.75%.
The savings product, that too only stayed on the window for a week. and rewarded maximum balances of 250,000 pounds (291,000 euros), it attracted more than 7.3 billion pounds (8.5 billion euros) and almost 250,000 new accounts.
Last weekend English newspapers encouraged their readers: hurry up and decide where to keep your money to take advantage of the “interest rate war” as “many offers won’t last long.” According to the ranking by The Daily Telegraph Last Saturday, Santander UK’s 5.2% was the best reward for a current account.
The English bank has reluctantly increased the interest it pays on savings, following pressure from the government and the regulator FCA, who had criticized the sector’s speed in transferring the increase in the official price of money (now at 5.25%) to mortgages and the slowness in increasing the interest rates paid to its customers. English banks increased their profits by 20% in the last quarter due to improving margins.
Unpaid balances
In the UK, £1.5 trillion (€1.75 trillion) is saved in savings accounts, and at the same time 250,000 million pounds (291,000 million euros) deposited in banks will not receive any compensation. In the coming days, the FCA is expected to publish the conclusions of a study carried out to find out whether major banks have improved the profitability of their customers’ deposits. The company threatened “strong action” against banks that failed to do so.
In Spain, this fight has begun, albeit timidly, with the improvement of the remuneration when the income is in residence or when supplementary products are contracted, although it hardly exceeds 3%.
