BSA welcomes increase in FSCS limit to £50,000

Commenting on the FSA's announcement, Adrian Coles, Director-General of the BSA said: "We welcome today's announcement that the level of compensation for savers will increase from £35,000 to £50,000 on Tuesday. This will mean that at least 97% of building society savers are fully covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

"We are pleased also that the Tripartite Authorities have again repeated their commitment to "do whatever is necessary to maintain financial stability and protect depositors".

"It is good that this new limit is to be implemented so quickly. The financial services market is changing rapidly and there is no room for uncertainty or lack of clarity for consumers.

"It is sensible to have a longer term debate about whether the limit should be higher still, the speed with which compensation payments are made and the legal basis of the coverage. We also think that there should be a debate about whether building societies' and banks' payments into the compensation scheme should somehow be risk-related."