Op-Ed: Is your bank deposit safe?

Is your money safe with your bank? That depends, but if you choose carefully, your assets should be protected up to £85,000 thanks to a government watchdog.

If you walk into your local Barclays Bank this week you are likely to find a small notice in front of the cashier's desk: Your eligible deposits are protected up to a total of £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the UK's deposit protection scheme. Any deposits you hold above the £85,000 limit are not covered. Please ask here for further information or visit www.fscs.org.uk ********************************************************************************** It is likely you will find this notice in other high street banks as well. In this supposedly so enlightened age, most people realise that a run on a bank means it may run out of money. Some have had that painful experience, with Northern Rock here, and let's not even think about Greece, Spain or the coming financial crisis. What, you thought that was over? Although there are said to be over half a million millionaires in the UK, very few people have liquid assets of £85,000, so the FSCS is there first and foremost to protect ordinary folks. Steps are now being taken to extend this protection to the wealthy, who many people - including themselves - tend to think are sophisticated investors, but as the collapse of MF Global and many other big funds and Ponzi schemes proves are anything but. Would you give your money to a company that placed and lost a $6 billion gamble on the Euro? Hopefully not.