NS&I’s British Savings Bonds launched at 4.15% AER

The newly launched British Savings Bonds offer a guaranteed interest rate of 4.15% AER for three years.

National Savings and Investments (NS&I) released its new British Savings Bonds today (3 April), as announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in the Spring Budget last month.

The British Savings Bonds pay 4.15% AER and have a three-year fixed term, which means savers are guaranteed to receive the rate for that period.

Supporting the UK

British Savings Bonds are new issues of NS&I’s Guaranteed Growth Bonds and Guaranteed Income Bonds, which were last available in 2019.

While both options calculate interest daily, the Guaranteed Growth Bond pays the interest back into your Bond on anniversary, whereas the Guaranteed Income Bond pays the interest into your bank account each month.

As with other NS&I savings products, British Savings Bonds are backed by the Treasury, which means any money deposited in them is 100% secure.

Savers can deposit between £500 and £1 million in these Bonds, and NS&I says that the money saved into them will be invested back into supporting the UK.

British Savings Bonds sit alongside NS&I’s other products, including Premium Bonds and Green Savings Bonds, which saw their rate cut to 2.95% AER earlier this year.

As well as British Savings Bonds, the Chancellor also announced a new UK ISA in the Spring Budget, which will provide an additional £5,000 allowance for savers to invest in UK-focused assets.

Higher paying alternatives

“It is good to see the launch of these bonds from NS&I, after much anticipation as they are a popular brand with investors,” commented Rachel Springall, Finance Expert at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk.

“These may well appeal to savers who are happy to forgo higher interest rates available elsewhere on equivalent term bonds to invest their cash, as NS&I products provide 100% capital security. Popular products don’t tend to sit on the shelf for very long, but NS&I intends to offer these British Savings Bonds for an extended period of time,” she continued.

While there are higher-paying easy access accounts and fixed-rate bonds available, with options at the top of the market currently paying more than 5%, Springall pointed out that British Savings Bonds “were not widely expected to lead the market on rate and its worth remembering that NS&I need to ensure they are on course to meet their net financing targets.”.

If you want a guaranteed return on your savings but don’t want to lock away your money for three years, you may want to consider shorter-term fixed bonds, especially as one-year bonds are currently paying higher rates than longer-term fixes.

Or, if you want the flexibility of being able to dip in and out of your savings, easy access accounts currently pay a higher rate than that offered by the British Savings Bonds. However, the rate on easy access accounts isn’t guaranteed and could drop at short notice.