NS&I Announces Financial Results
Released
on: July 28, 2009, 4:11 am
Author: Gill Stephens
Industry: Financial
NS&I
(National Savings and Investments), the government-backed savings
and investments provider, today announced its annual results for
the year to 31 March 2009 and for the first quarter of 2009-10.
Highlights
for the financial year for year ending 31 March 2009 included
net financing of £12.5 billion– against a revised
November 2008 forecast of £11 billion (within a range of
£2 billion either side) – due to unsolicited savings
deposits following the 'flight to safety' which began in mid-September
last year and making sales of £8.5 billion through
premium bonds - an increase of almost £2 billion from
the previous year.
The
'flight to safety' is now over and NS&I is operating in a
more challenging savings environment; however, the focus remains
on balancing the interests of savers, the taxpayer and supporting
stability in the wider financial services marketplace by maintaining
an appropriate competitive position
Jane
Platt, NS&I's chief executive, said: "The global financial
crisis, which began last September, meant that demand for our
products increased dramatically despite us cancelling all discretionary
marketing and led to us delivering £12.5 billion of net
financing last year. I’m proud of the way the teams at our
operations centres responded to this challenge and helped to ensure
we remained open for business and maintained our high customer
service standards, in spite of the unsolicited inflows of money.
"As
the Bank of England base rate continued to fall rapidly and financial
markets remained unusually volatile, we agreed with HM Treasury
that NS&I’s Value Add target for 2008-09 would be temporarily
suspended and no target set for the coming year. Our decision-making
is now driven by the need to maintain a balance between offering
a fair rate to our customers, delivering cost-effective finance
to Government, and the need to support stability across the wider
financial services marketplace by maintaining an appropriate competitive
position."
Notes
to editors:
NS&I’s Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09 were presented
to the House of Commons on 15 July 2009, pursuant to section 7
of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.
About
NS&I
NS&I is one of the UK's largest financial providers with almost
27 million customers and over £94 billion invested. It is
best known for premium bonds, but also offers inflation-beating
savings accounts,
guaranteed
equity bonds and guaranteed
growth bonds in its range. All products offer 100% security,
because NS&I is backed by HM Treasury.
NS&I PR contact:
Gill Stephens
National Savings and Investments
375 Kensington High Street
London
W14 8SD
020 7348 9449
www.nsandi.com