How your savings are protected
You've worked hard to build up your savings
So keeping them safe with a company you can trust is important.
Active Savings is provided by HL Savings Ltd (HLSL) and lets you put your money with different banks and building societies whilst managing everything in one place.
We’re authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an electronic money institution but we’re not a bank. This means that in different scenarios your money is protected in different ways.
Once your money is in a savings product it’s covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) should the bank or building society providing that product fail.
Any money not in a savings product is held in the cash hub. But as we’re an electronic money institution and the cash hub isn’t a savings account, your money in the cash hub isn’t protected by the FSCS if we fail. Instead we protect it through the FCA’s ‘safeguarding’ rules.
How your money in a savings product is protected
When your money is in a savings product through Active Savings, it’s held by that bank or building society.
If the bank or building society providing the savings product fails:
If the bank or building society were to fail, the FSCS will protect your money up to £85,000 per banking licence.
When using Active Savings, it may take longer to receive your money from the FSCS than if you saved directly with the bank or building society. But as a guide, the FSCS aim to make all payments back to savers within three months.
If HL Savings Ltd fails:
As your money is held by the bank or building society who provides the product, it will not be affected if we go out of business and will still be covered by the FSCS. But it may take longer to get back than if it was saved directly with the bank or building society.
What is the FSCS?
The FSCS is an independent organisation, set up by parliament, which can step in to pay compensation if authorised firms fail. The limit is £85,000 of eligible deposits per banking licence. If you have money with different banks and building societies who share the same licence, you’ll only have a total of £85,000 protection through the FSCS. On a joint bank or building society account you'd have up to £170,000 protected.
If you split your money across banks and building societies who don’t share a banking licence, you’ll have higher protection. All of the banks and building societies on Active Savings are covered by the FSCS. You can find out more about the FSCS through their website.
Who regulates our banking partners?
All our banking partners are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. And they are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority.
How your money in the cash hub is protected
Any money you pay into your Active Savings account goes into the cash hub while you choose your savings products. When you take money out of a savings product it goes back into the cash hub while you decide what to do with it.
If HL Savings Ltd fails:
As an electronic money institution, we issue you electronic money (e-money) equal to your money held in the cash hub. This is so you can see how much money you hold. But the cash hub isn’t a savings account and it doesn’t pay any interest.
In the unlikely event that we (HL Savings Ltd) fail, your money in the cash hub is not covered by the FSCS. Instead, it’s protected through the FCA’s safeguarding rules.
Money in the cash hub is kept separately from our own company money in a safeguarded account with an approved bank (currently Barclays Bank Plc) that creditors can’t access.
There’s no limit to the amount protected through safeguarding, but some costs could be taken by the administrator or liquidator if we were to fail. This could impact the amount that you receive, and it could take longer to get your money back than if it were held directly with a bank.
If the cash hub account provider fails:
If Barclays were to fail, the FSCS will protect up to £85,000 of your eligible deposits in the cash hub, but it may take longer to get your money back than if it were held directly with Barclays. If you hold money with Barclays outside of Active Savings as well, either directly or through other providers, this may also fall under the same £85,000 limit.
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding is another way of protecting your money. It’s a set of rules, governed by the FCA, which are designed to ensure your money is kept safe. It requires firms to either keep your money separate from their own, or protect it with an insurance policy or similar guarantee. All authorised electronic money institutions must safeguard your money.
You can find out more about safeguarding on the FCA’s website.
How your money in the Cash ISA is protected
If you have a Cash ISA through Active Savings, your money is protected on the same basis. Any money that’s not in a savings product goes through a transaction account. This is also held with Barclays and is safeguarded in the same way as the Active Savings cash hub. Once your money is in a savings product, it’s protected through the FSCS in the same way as your Active Savings Account.
Account security
We use 2-factor authentication with automatic timeouts to protect your account alongside your usual log in details and encryption technology to keep you and your money secure.
We’ll only ever pay withdrawals to your nominated bank account, and if you ever want to change it, you’ll need to validate the change with a passcode which we’ll send to you.
This website is issued by Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Limited (company number 1896481), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with firm reference 115248.
The Active Savings service is provided by Hargreaves Lansdown Savings Limited (company number 8355960). Hargreaves Lansdown Savings Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference number 915119). Hargreaves Lansdown Savings Limited is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 with firm reference 901007 for the issuing of electronic money.
Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Limited and Hargreaves Lansdown Savings Limited are subsidiaries of Hargreaves Lansdown plc (company number 2122142).