One provider of personal and business bank accounts has recently announced it will be adding to its selection of savings products by creating a range of new fixed rate bond products.
Spanish banking giant Santander recently revealed that consumers now have several new savings accounts to choose from. The financial services provider will now have new one, two, and three-year fixes that consumers can choose to take up, said the bank.
The interest rate carried by Santander’s new one-year fix stands at 3.35 per cent. Those savers in search of a more longer-term option have the choice of taking out a three-year fix with an annual equivalent rate of 4.01 per cent.
Santander’s director of savings and investments, Reza Attar-Zadeh, remarked that the fixed-rate bonds will only be available for a limited time. Savers that wish to take advantage of the new deals should not delay in order to secure the attractive rates, added the banking director.
In related news, savings account interest rates are at their highest levels since the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee lowered its base rate to 0.5 per cent.
Rates on savings products have been more attractive in general than they were approximately two years ago when the BoE first changed its rates to their historic low, states new research.
On May 5, the MPC decided to once more keep the base rate at its current level. This marks the 26th month in a row that the committee has done so in an effort to not hamstring post-recessionary recovery efforts.
Independent financial research company, Defaqto, conducted a research study to track the alterations made to savings products over the course of these 26 months. Defaqto found that the average interest rate available now is significantly higher than it was in March of 2009, the date of the original base rate adjustment.