Banks with lowest savings rates to face ‘robust action’, warns UK financial watchdog

While the big four UK banks say they offer a range of products with higher returns, interest rates on easy-access savings accounts have broadly languished below 2%. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Banks have been given four weeks to justify low savings rates to the City regulator, before facing “robust action” as part of a fresh crackdown on the UK savings market.

The deadline is part of a 14-point action plan unveiled by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Monday, after it found the UK’s largest banks had passed on just over a quarter of UK interest rates rises to the most popular savings accounts, while mortgage and loan charges have soared.