The dangers of offshore bank accounts

Many savers trusted their money to offshore banks before the financial crisis hit, and they're still waiting to find out how much money they might have lost. But harsh though it may sound, I can't feel too sorry for them. And other investors should learn from their misfortune.

"The forgotten victims of the credit crunch" That's how David Budworth in The Times describes savers who trusted their money to offshore banks before the financial crisis hit. Many are still waiting to find out how much money they might have lost in remote spots such as the Isle of Man and Guernsey. But harsh though it may sound, I can't feel too sorry for them. And other investors should learn from their misfortune.

According to Budworth, "the sense of injustice is stark." The government bailed out UK savers with deposits at UK banks when they collapsed, so that savers lost nothing. And then the government extended the compensation scheme somewhat arbitrarily to fully cover savers in Icelandic bank Icesave. But as he notes, "their compatriots who lost money in Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander Isle of Man and Landbanki Guernsey have not been so lucky".

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.