Attempt to modernise NS&I has been a ‘full-spectrum disaster’, MPs find

The costs involved in the modernisation programme at NS&I had risen dramatically with ‘little transformation’ delivered to date, the PAC report said. Photograph: Justin Long/Alamy

An attempt to modernise the state-owned savings bank NS&I has been a “full-spectrum disaster”, parliament’s spending watchdog has concluded in a damning report.

NS&I (National Savings & Investments), which runs a popular monthly cash-prize draw for premium bond holders, has been criticised by a committee of MPs for exposing the taxpayer to “unacceptable risk” owing to the spiralling costs of its £3bn modernisation programme.