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The Dutch finance group that took on £2.5 billion worth of deposits from failed bank Kaupthing Edge has now offered 160,000 customers of the Icelandic institution new savings deals.
ING Direct said it had successfully integrated all of the Kaupthing Edge accounts into its system after the move in October last year arranged by the Treasury to protect UK savers amid concerns about the Icelandic banking sector.
The former Kaupthing Edge customers have now been moved to a new 2% rate that guarantees to be at least 0.3% above the Bank of England base rate until 2012.
But customers can choose to forego the base-rate guarantee and move to a different rate of 4%, which includes a bonus of 2.02% paid for six months. After this time the rate will revert back to ING's standard rate.
The Dutch savings bank did not pass on any of either January or February's base rate reduction to former Kaupthing Edge customers while it integrated them into its system - leaving savers on a rate of 3.55%.
The 4% offer is available until March 9, and customers remain free to withdraw their money and move it elsewhere if they want to. However, around 22,000 customers of Heritable Bank, which was part of Icelandic bank Landsbanki, have yet to be integrated into the group's systems.
Industry experts have stressed that it is important for savers who take out a bonus account to make a note of when the introductory offer period ends so that they can review their options.
Copyright © Press Association 2009
