The interest rates on a handful of the best easy access savers in the UK have increased by 0.23 percentage points over the past 12 months, even in the face of Bank of England’s base rate remaining a paltry 0.5 per cent, experts say.

Personal and business bank account industry experts remarked that competition has been driving the rise in returns on the nation’s savings accounts as banks and building societies have been attempting to attract savers in the face of the burgeoning eurozone financial morass.  This has led to the average rate of return across the top five easy access savers to rise to 2.97 per cent, an increase from January 2011′s 2.74 per cent figure.

Meanwhile, other savings products have demonstrated growth from a year ago as well.  One price comparison website reported that the rates of return on one-year and two-year fixes have risen by 0.46 percentage points, while fixed ISA savings rates have also increased by 0.18 points year-on-year.

However, other sources say that once you take into account the entire industry-wide average, rates have not risen by nearly as much.  The average rate of return across all easy access savers is a rather disappointing 0.91 per cent, though this is an improvement over January 2011′s 0.83 per cent, while some cash ISA savings holders saw their returns dwindle to just 0.05 per cent per annum, equivalent to only 50p for every £1,000 in deposits.

Industry experts say that this disparity has become endemic in the banking sector as providers try to entice new customers with headline rates, yet short-change their existing savers in order to maximise their own revenues.