There’s a worrying possibility that the FSA is about to kill off independent financial advice in the UK for all but the wealthy. I do hope I’m wrong. It’s just confirmed plans of its Retail Distribution Review which, in a nutshell, means from 2012 Independent Financial Advisers will have to charge a fee rather than simply take...

One kind MoneySaver popped me an email to suggest that HSBC was now using our Savings Fountain concept in its adverts. The fountain idea is simple: as the highest paying after-tax savings products such as cash-ISAs or regular savers allow different amounts in them, it’s all about filling up the top product then letting the rest overflow....

Following on from my last blog about Is ICICI an Indian bank?, I was interested to read the forum discussion. There Fudge 1977 was one of many to voice the following sentiment: “With the push to ‘buy British’, maybe you could just highlight British owned banks when referencing them. I’m buying british where I can do which...

ICICI is a massive Indian bank, but on this site we’re only ever referring to its fully UK owned and regulated UK savings subsidiary that has exactly the same protection as any other UK savings institution (see savings safety). Yet this is what I wrote in this week’s e-mail… New top fixed savings. Lock-in at 4.35% for...