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Press release

BSA comments on OFT response to cash ISA super-complaint

Contact: Rachel Wylie
Date: 29 Jun 2010

Commenting today on the OFT’s formal response to the Consumer Focus super-complaint on cash ISAs, Adrian Coles, BSA Director-General, said:

“We welcome the constructive response from the OFT to the Consumer Focus super-complaint on cash Isas, and we accept the need to ensure improvements are made to ISAs to provide savers with the service standards for which the OFT is calling

“The industry has committed to make further improvements to the cash ISA transfer process and to the transparency of cash ISAs.

The OFT report includes a number of commitments by BSA members:

to reduce the maximum time for cash ISA transfers from 23 working days to 15 working days and to introduce reporting arrangements that will underpin this
to require the new ISA provider to pay interest from two days following receipt of transfer documentation and payment from the ceding provider
to consider the feasibility of a fully electronic system of transfers
in addition, the BSA has produced a consumer friendly guide to ISA transfers that will be available on our website from today
to put current interest rates on cash ISA statements in time for the 2012 ISA season.”

~ Ends ~

Notes

The Building Societies Association (BSA) represents mutual lenders and deposit takers in the UK including all 50 UK building societies. Mutual lenders and deposit takers have total assets of over £370 billion and, together with their subsidiaries, hold residential mortgages of over £235 billion, 19% of the total outstanding in the UK. They hold almost £250 billion of retail deposits, accounting for just under 22% of all such deposits in the UK. Mutual deposit takers account for about 36% of cash ISA balances. They employ approximately 50,000 full and part-time staff and operate through approximately 2,000 branches.
Photographs of Adrian Coles are available from the BSA press office, or from the Association’s website at www.bsa.org.uk or Headlinemoney www.headlinemoney.co.uk
A copy of the BSA consumer guide to ISA transfers can be found here - http://www.bsa.org.uk/consumer/factsheets/cash_isa_transfers.pdf
Contact:

Rachel Wylie - 020 7520 5905 / rachel.wylie@bsa.org.uk