National Savings investors double

9 December 2008 06:23pm

The number of wealthy investors putting money into National Savings & Investments has doubled during the past six months, figures showed.

Consumers with more than £50,000 of liquid assets are increasingly opting for the Government-backed savings group as they look for save havens for their money, according to Axa Winterthur Wealth Management.

Around 48% of these investors said they would now consider holding their money with NS&I, up from 22% six months ago.

At the same time 18% of people would save money with an Irish bank to take advantage of the Irish government's 100% deposit guarantee - nine times more than would have considered an Irish bank previously.

By contrast, the number of people who would put their money into equity based investments has dived by a third during the past six months.

One in 10 people even claimed they would keep their savings at home rather than risk investing it with a financial institution.

Mike Kellard, chief executive of AXA Winterthur Wealth Management, said: "Perhaps not surprisingly, our research clearly shows that UK consumers are willing to take fewer risks with all of their savings and investment products today than before the credit squeeze."

Axa questioned 1,200 people and 167 independent financial advisers during October.

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