Newcomer Kaupthing offers 6.5% to online savers

Icelandic-owned Kaupthing Edge, an online savings provider, has become the latest foreign bank to launch an account aimed at British savers.  The instant-access savings account which pays 6.5% gross rivals that of ICICI Bank’s HiSave account at 6.41% (which has stayed at the top for a long while).  Savers must first open the instant-access account with a minimum of £1,000 before they can take advantage of Kaupthing’s fixed rates while ICICI HiSave only requires £1.  It also offers a six-month fixed-rate bond at 6.8% gross and a 12-month fixed-rate bond at 6.86% gross.  Kaupthing is regulated by the Financial Services Authority and as such savers’ cash up to £35,000 is protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if the bank were to run into difficulties.  Kaupthing also guarantees that the rate on its instant-access account, which is variable, will not be less than 0.3 of a percentage point above the base rate until February 2012.