New top-paying 'ethical' savings account at 3.66% launched by Zero – here's how it compares

The savings account has the full Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) £120,000 per person safety protection. To get it, you need to open Zero's app-only current account. Here's how the new account stacks up...

Key features of the Planet Safe Saver account

Here are the headline takeaways:

• You can save between £1 and £1 million and make unlimited withdrawals. Withdrawals may take up to one working day to arrive in your account. Interest is paid monthly back into your savings account.

• You need to open Zero's free current account to get it. This is because deposits and withdrawals to the savings account can only be made via the current account.

• There's no soft or hard credit check to open either account. Instead there will be an ID check. So your credit record won't be impacted.

• Money in the savings account has full safe savings protection, but the current account doesn't. The Planet Safe Saver is FSCS protected. It's a separate regulated deposit held with Griffin Bank via Bondsmith, covered up to £120,000.
  
  However, the current account is an e-money account provided via ClearBank. Funds in the current account are ringfenced, but aren't covered by the FSCS. So don't leave large sums in there.

Why Zero considers Planet Safe Saver to be 'ethical'

There are no official or regulated definitions on what is an 'ethical' or 'green' provider when it comes to savings. But in practice, the industry uses these terms in two different ways:

• Ethical: your money actively avoids funding harmful sectors – for example, fossil fuels, weapons, tobacco.

• Green-impact: your money is actively used to fund environmental or renewable projects – for example, solar farms and eco-housing.

Planet Safe Saver is an ethical-screened savings account, not a green-impact one. Your savings sit with Griffin Bank, the FSCS-protected bank behind Zero's product, via a regulated intermediary called Bondsmith, which manages the deposit on Zero's behalf. Griffin then stores the money at the Bank of England rather than lending it out, so it can't be used to fund fossil fuels or other screened-out sectors.

This structure lets Zero offer an 'ethical' saver, even though Zero itself isn't a bank. This guarantees your savings won't fund harmful sectors, but it also means it can't be used to finance environmental projects.

The Zero app also has green-oriented features. This includes a function called 'Greenscore', which gives you a carbon impact rating out of 1,000 based on the transactions you make via your current account and debit card.

How the Planet Safe Saver compares on rate

If you're not interested in 'ethical' or 'green' savings, Planet Safe Saver can be beaten by other easy-access accounts. You can get up to 4.52% easy-access elsewhere. Here are our current top picks:

If you don't need easy-access and can lock cash away for a set period, you can earn even more elsewhere. See our Top savings guide.