The National Savings Regulations 2015

Investment deposits

23.—(1) This regulation applies to investment deposits.

(2) An investment deposit may be made—

(a) by cheque, postal order or banker’s draft sent to the principal office of the National Savings Bank; or

(b) subject to paragraph (3), by electronic transfer.

(3) The first deposit in an investment account may not be made by electronic transfer without the prior approval of the Director of Savings.

(4) The minimum amount that may be deposited in an investment account is—

(a) £20 if the deposit is made by cheque, postal order or banker’s draft; or

(b) £1 if the deposit is made by electronic transfer.

(5) The minimum balance of deposits required for an account is £1.

(6) The maximum amount of deposits that may be held in the name of a person, whether in one or more than one account, is £1,000,000, and where deposits are held jointly, each person in whose name those deposits are held is to be treated as credited with an equal share of those deposits.

(7) Where deposits are held in the name of one or more trustees, those deposits are to be ignored for the purposes of determining the amount credited to a person for the purpose of paragraph (6).

(8) The maximum amount of deposits that may be held in the name of a trustee, whether solely or jointly with another person, and whether in one or more than one account, is £1,000,000 in relation to each separate trust.

(9) For the purposes of paragraph (8), trusts are to be treated as separate to the extent that they differ as respects—

(a) the identity of the trustees;

(b) the powers of the trustees;

(c) the identity of the beneficiaries; or

(d) the respective interests of the beneficiaries.

(10) No account may contain investment deposits in excess of £2,000,000.

(11) Paragraphs (5) to (10) do not apply in relation to individual savings accounts.

(12) Paragraphs (5) to (11) do not apply in relation to an investment account of any description for which terms and conditions have been set under section 9A(1) of the 1971 Act(1).

(13) Nothing in paragraphs (6) to (10) operates to prevent—

(a) the receipt or crediting of an amount allowed to a depositor as interest on deposits;

(b) the receipt or crediting of an amount transferred from an investment deposit account of another depositor (in the National Savings Bank) who has died;

(c) the crediting of any amount—

(i) by the Director of Savings under regulation 92 of the National Savings (No. 2) Regulations 2015(2); or

(ii) paid under article 21 of the National Savings Stock Register (Closure of Register to Gilts) Order 1998(3), or an amount received or credited in contravention of article 21 from being treated as having been lawfully received or credited for a period the Director of Savings considers appropriate, provided that—

(aa) at the time the amount was received or credited the Director of Savings was unaware of the contravention; and

(bb) the Director of Savings considers it just and reasonable that the amount be treated in this way;

(d) the receipt of an amount for, or the crediting of an amount to, an account of the Accountant General of the Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland;

(e) the receipt or crediting of an amount to an individual savings account transferred by an account manager under the 1998 Regulations;

(f) the crediting of any amount transferred from an investment deposit account in which it is prohibited to make deposits—

(i) as a result of regulations made under section 8(3)(d) of the 1971 Act(4) (regulations prohibiting the making of deposits in investment accounts of a prescribed description); or

(ii) as a result of terms and conditions set under section 9A(1) of the 1971 Act(5) having equivalent effect.

(14) In calculating for the purposes of this regulation the amount held in the name of a person, the Director of Savings must not take into account a deposit of a trustee on behalf of that person in relation to an account opened under regulation 13 in the joint names of the trustee and that person.

(1)

Section 9A was inserted by the Finance Act 2003 (c. 14), section 208(11).

(2)

S.I. 2015/624.

(3)

S.I. 1998/1446.

(4)

Section 8(3) was inserted by the Finance Act 2003 (c. 14), sections 208(1), (8) and (10).

(5)

Section 9A was inserted by the Finance Act 2003 (c. 14), section 208(11).