November Savings Round Up
Having witnessed a few months of falling interest rates on savings, we’ve seen a little stabilisation in the past month thankfully.
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Marcus cuts best buy easy access account - will Shawbrook follow?
Marcus by Goldman Sachs, the UK savings provider, has cut the bonus rate paid on its market leading easy access savings account, losing its place at the top of our best buy tables.
CROWDSTACKER has appointed James Blower
CROWDSTACKER has appointed James Blower, founder of The Savings Guru, as an advisor to its board to assist with product development.
Blower will help the peer-to-peer business lender develop and launch a suite of new services, including what he called a “potentially game changing savings-related product”.
“What Crowdstacker has planned over the next few months and years is hugely exciting. After speaking to Karteek and hearing his vision to help savers it wasn’t a difficult decision to agree to get involved.” Blower said.
Blower previously ran National Australia Bank’s offshore savings bank Clydesdale Bank International in Guernsey and was the first savings director of challenger bank Shawbrook before launching consultancy and consumer savings information and comparison site, The Savings Guru.
He has since worked with a range of firms building savings business or applying for deposit taking banking licences, including Harrods Bank, Cambridge Building Society, specialist mortgage lender Pepper Money, Zopa and Arbuthnot Direct.
Karteek Patel, chief executive of Crowdstacker, said the platform will reveal details of its new product later this year and is delighted to have Blower on board. “James has the specific experience and knowledge of the market plus the specialist skills in product development and marketing to help us get this right to create a savings revolution.”
June Savings Round Up
It’s been a very quiet month at the top of the best buy tables with no changes to the headline rates, with the exception of notice accounts where Secure Trust Bank have leapfrogged Hampshire Trust Bank with their 90 day notice account paying 1.92%.
Is Marcus about to launch new products and cut its online savings rate?
An innocuous looking email dropped in to Savings Guru HQ a few days ago from Marcus, changing the terms and conditions on their Online Savings Account. However, the contents are potentially very significant.
September Savings Round Up
I wrote in last month’s column about falling interest rates and August was another month where we witnessed a number of providers cutting their interest rates on savings.
Revver is the first new bank of 2019
Revverbank has become the first new bank to be authorised by the Bank of England and Prudential Regulation Authority in 2019, having been granted ‘authorisation with restrictions’ late in June.
May Savings Round Up
If you keep an eye on best buys, you’d be forgiven for thinking that last month was a quiet month in the market, as headline rates have barely changed in the past few weeks.
October Savings Round Up
At the start of September, the best 1 Year Fixed rate from a non-Sharia provider, who typically dominate the best buy tables, was the 1.95% payed by SmartSave. This month, the best rate is 1.80% from Zenith Bank or 1.76% from Ikano Bank.
August savings round up
Each month, James writes a column for Around Town and BeauLieu Magazines, which go out to around 60,000 homes and businesses in Essex. This is his August column.
July Savings Round Up
Smart Save Bank return with best 1 Year Fixed Rate, Best business savings rate for a year, HSBC offers £175 cash bonus to switchers, Billericay Summerfest and the World’s Fastest Tuk Tuk
Video: Savings Guru TV Episode 3 – Peer to Peer Special
In the third episode of Savings Guru TV, James talks to Brian Bartaby of Proplend about the P2P investment market, Innovative Finance ISAs, and the potential impact of Brexit.
The Savings Guru help start up/challenger banks apply for a licence, build their savings business and attract savers and they provide consumers insight to the savings market.
They set up and launched Shawbrook and Clydesdale Bank International in to the savings market, and their recent clients include Arbuthnot Latham, Zopa, Cambridge Building Society, Harrods Bank Ltd and Cambridge & Counties Bank.