The week in savings - w/e 1st October
04/10/2021
Monday 27th September
Castle Trust Bank kicked the week off with the launch of two fixed rate ISAs. Having been open to existing customers only, they entered the ISA market with two fixed rates open to new customers - a 1 Year Fixed paying 0.90% (best buy) and 2 Year Fixed paying 1.10% (joint 2nd)
Tuesday 28th September
Close increased their notice account pricing – 90 Day Notice went up to 1% and 35 Day Notice was improved to 0.65%, to move up to joint 7th
JN Bank increased their 4 and 5 Year fixed to 1.83% and 1.84% respectively, moving up to best buy on 4 Year and to 5th on 5 Year.
Isbank, the Turkish Private Bank, which is available on the Raisin platform, launch a 4 Year Fixed Rate which placed it 3rd in the market.
Atom Bank’s results were published showing deposits had increased to £2.154bn as at 31st March 2021
Wednesday 29th September
Marcus and Saga both increased their easy access rates by 0.10% to 0.60% (which includes a 12 month bonus of 0.10%), which move them both up to joint 4th. Marcus also improved its easy access cash ISA to 0.60%, to move joint top with Cynergy.
Close increased their 1 Year Fixed to 1.30% to move up to joint 9th
DF Capital announced that it has attracted 7,200 savers and £280m of savings in its first year as a fully authorised bank
Thursday 30th September
Hodge cut their 1 and 2 Year Fixed ISAs by 0.10%:
1 Year - 0.70% (joint 7th)
2 Year - 1.05% (4th)
The 2 Year was previously a best buy, a position now held by Castle Trust Bank and Close Brothers, both paying 1.10%
PCF Bank withdraw their 1 Year and 18 Month Fixed rate products from sale, which means they have no on sale products, as their shares remain suspended on the London Stock Exchange.
Late in the afternoon, Charter Savings improved their easy access and notice pricing:
* Easy access - 0.60% (joint 4th)
* Notice - 1.02% (95 Day), 0.83% (60 Day), 0.70% (30 Day)
Friday 1st October
Aldermore and Paragon kicked off the day with some changes.
Aldermore increased their easy access and 30 Day Notice rates:
* Easy access - 0.50% (outside top 10 in market)
* 30 Day Notice - 0.55% (outside top 10)
* 30 Day Notice ISA - 0.55% (best buy)
Paragon cut their fixed rates and moved out of our best buys:
1 Year - down to 0.95%
15 Months - 1.20%
2 Year - 1.35%
3 Year - 1.45%
Ford Money joined the action, later in the morning, with increases to their ISA rates:
1 Year ISA - 0.70% (joint 7th)
2 Year ISA - 0.85% (outside top 10)
3 Year ISA - 0.95% (joint 10th
Ford also withdrew their 4 and 5 Year Fixed Rate Bonds from sale
Secure Trust improved their fixed rate and notice pricing:
1 Year Fixed - 1.35% (joint 5th)
2 Year Fixed - 1.75% (joint 2nd)
3 Year Fixed - 1.80% (2nd)
90 Day Notice - 1.07% (2nd)
BLME raised their 90 Day Notice Account rate to 0.90% (joint 9th)
Recognise Bank moved to best buy in notice with a rise to 1.10% on their 95 Day Notice Account
Zopa’s financial results for 2020 revealed they took on £177.8m in the four months post their launch at the end of August.
Summary
It was a good week for easy access savers with Charter, Marcus and Saga all increasing to 0.60%. This establishes this as a price floor in the current market and I now expect to see other providers breakout above this range. We may even see Family and Coventry’s 0.65% rate topped during October.
Notice pricing has been very competitive with several providers improving rates during the week and I think we will see more changes this week and potentially a new best buy.
1 Year Fixed was stable and should continue to be this week but I don’t see a breakout above Allica’s 1.40% from a non-Sharia provider and still think we may see consolidation around 1.35%.
ISA pricing was pretty stable but I think we will see more movements this week as there still looks like room to manoeuvre here.