The coming economic depression, which UK bank is the least likely to go under?

Question

This is not a question prompting debate on whether the US, and then as a knock on, the UK, is going into a depression ... I know what's likely to happen

Just wondering, which UK Bank should I store my money in, which is least likely to go under? HSBC?

Answer 1

Lloyd's will never disappear and I would be surprised if Halifax or Abbey National were seriously effected.

Answer 2

If you're really worried about losing any funds deposited surely the best bet is to spread your risk by not having more than the UK financial compensation scheme would pay out (30k ??) in any one bank i.e. spread it around. I know you might lose a little in interest, but that's the price of reduced risk. This is what most financial institutions do (almost have to by law).... never invest more than 5-20% with any one institution.

Frankly if one of the 'majors' goes under, the rest would probably follow. There'd be such a huge loss of confidence in the whole system that every investor would go running for cover.  Therefore, no British governement could afford to allow any major UK bank to go under, the effect on the economy would be catastrophic..... insurance companies and pension funds would suffer horrendously and possibly collapse as well as the banks.

So even if (and to be honest I doubt it ever will) one of the big banks did fail, the Bank of England (i.e. the taxpayers) would almost certainly bail them out.

You live long enough..... you see these scares come and you see them go..... I remember people predicting Lloyds would go under because of its huge exposure to third world debt.

Hmmm ... yes that happened.

By the way Halifax is part of the Bank of Scotland, probably just as safe as any of the other big banks..... don't confuse mortgage exposure with sub-prime lending.  

Having a big mortgage book does not NECESSARILY make you a bigger risk than anyone else, if the average debt to equity ratio is < 50%...hurrah.....OK it won'tbe, but you get my point, it's quality that counts not quantity

And finally.....back to your question, if you have 100k lying around that you don't need to get at in a hurry and security is a major concern, perhaps you should consider government bonds of some description ?

Answer 3

Northern Rock, it is supported by the government

Answer 4

Nationwide isn't a bank but I'd say it's as safe as houses.

Answer 5

Lloydstsb, I have been keeping them going for years.

Answer 6

HSBC and all the High Street Banks.

Answer 7

HSBC would probably be the least likely as you say though Barclays, HBOS and RBS are all very heavily world wide integrated and have operations in many different countries so would not feel the pinch so much plus they don't just provide banking services to local high street people but have lots of other enterprises behind the scenes which keeps them ticking over. Barclays for example has a massive global asset/trading division which easily helped them to keep afloat inspite of their significant write downs last year. I hear Bradford and Bingley are in difficult straits at the moment. Not quite like Northern Rock but not as stable as the main banks. As for storing your money in a bank, Switzerland or the Cayman Islands are still probably your best bet, though non of the major banks in the UK are likely to go under as you say.