How protected is your bank?

Once upon a time, people picked savings accounts based on interest rate and access. But now, security is at the forefront of many people's minds.

In order to get the best protection possible for your savings, you need to understand the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) rules. These protect each individual per bank up to £85,000.

But the term "per bank" is not as transparent as it seems. It refers not to brand but actually to the type of authorisation the institution has with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Many banks in the UK are part of the same banking group, and in some cases are regulated by the FCA as one bank. If you have money in several different firms all authorised as the same bank by the FCA, then the FSCS will add up all your balances and only refund money up to £85,000.

If you are unsure about how your bank is authorised you can phone the FCA helpline on 0800 111 6768. Alternatively, you can check the FCA register - but bear in mind that this can be something of a minefield to navigate.

To make it easier for you, Moneywise has compiled a list of saving banks and building societies in the UK and how they are authorised. If your bank isn't on here, then get in touch below or try the FCA.

The authorisation refers to the savings side of the business - for example, SAGA is authorised on its own but its saving business is authorised as HBOS.

How to use the tables

Once you've found your savings bank, check out what name it is authorised as. Then, see what other banks share the same authorisation. If you have money in two of more banks with the same authorisation name (see examples below) and your total balance in all these accounts exceeds £85,000, then you should think about moving any money over that limit into a new account that has a seperate authorisation.

Check out the Moneywise round-up of the savings market and our round-up of the ISA market to see what top accounts are out there at the moment.

Main banking groups

Two banking groups to watch out for are HBOS and Santander and they both authorise several of their brands under their own name.

HBOS: The HBOS group of saving banks includes Halifax, Intelligent Finance, Bank of Scotland and Birmingham Midshires. It also supplies saving products through the AA and SAGA, and both these brands are authorised as HBOS.

In addition, the HBOS offers mortgages through its four banks (Birmingham Midshires through BM Solutions), as well as the now-closed brand, The Mortgage Business (TMB). HBOS also owns a 50% stake in Sainsbury's Finance, but to confuse matters Sainsbury's saving products have their own authorisation.

Santander: Spanish bank Santander is the owner of Abbey and Bradford & Bingley's saving business. It will also soon own Alliance & Leicester, and it also offers saving products through two other brands - ASDA Savings and Cahoot.

RBS: Unlike HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland tends to authorise its group of companies separately. So, for example, NatWest - which is owned by RBS - has its owned authorisation as does Ulster Bank and First Active.

However, money saved with The One Account is actually held by RBS, so it does not have its own authorisation. And Virgin Money, despite having its own FCA authorisation, also transfers its savings to RBS - therefore, under FSCS rules, it counts as RBS.