ING buys Icelandic bank savings

Commenting on ING Direct UK acquiring more than £3bn of deposits held by UK savers with Icelandic-owned banks, Kevin Mountford, head of banking at moneysupermarket.com, said: "This will surely come as welcome news for the thousands of savers watching nervously as their banks struggle for survival. Heritable Bank's customers would other wise have been reliant on the Treasury to cover their deposits and Kaupthing's customers were unsure as to the safety of their deposits, can now breathe a sigh of relief.

"This move also makes sense for ING, who, like so many other banks, are no doubt desperate for the liquidity that comes with retail savers deposits. This strikes me as a smart step that will bolster their balance sheet."