Sainsbury's Bank backs Child Trust Fund saving scheme

Sainsbury's Bank is launching into the Child Trust Fund savings market with specialist provider Family Investments.

14:26 15 November 2004

Sainsbury's Bank is launching into the Child Trust Fund savings market with specialist provider Family Investments.

The Child Trust Fund is a new government scheme to encourage saving, by providing every baby in England with a 250 savings bond. This will accrue interest tax free, and can be added to by friends or family of the child, until the fund matures on the child's 18th birthday.

Coinciding with the launch of the bond, Sainsbury's Bank is planning to prominently display its Child Trust Fund proposition in all its high street stores.

Sainsbury's Bank's Gail Quinn said: "This is an exciting government initiative and one which we support wholeheartedly. The more options there are for people to save the better.

"The combination of our distribution reach and [Family Investment's] expertise in this field should be a powerful one."

This initiative is another attempt by Sainsbury's aimed at getting Britain saving again.

"We believe that the key to closing the savings gap lies in finding ways in which to make it easier for people to save. Given how often people visit supermarkets, we believe that we have a major role to play in encouraging people to start saving more. Offering a Child Trust Fund will be an important part of our savings proposition," said Ms Quinn.

Recently Sainsbury's Bank has launched a series of initiatives aimed at getting people saving. These include the SaveBack scheme - letting people deposit money in their savings account by simply swiping a card at the till of the shop; increasing the rate it pays savers to five per cent; and promising to pay above the market average interest until 2010.