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Press release
NATIONAL SAVINGS AND INVESTMENTS ANNUAL RESULTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31ST MARCH 2005
12 September 2005
- Record £68.5 billion funds invested, up from £66.5 billion the previous year
- £1.97 billion net financing achieved
- On track to meet previously announced £15 billion five year net financing target by 2007-08
- Marketing partnership announced with Tesco Personal Finance today
National Savings and Investments (NS&I), the government-backed savings and investments provider, today announces its annual results and publishes its Annual Report and Accounts for the year to 31 March 2005 (2004/05).
NS&I also announces today its marketing partnership with Tesco Personal Finance. (See "National Savings and Investments Teams Up with Tesco Personal Finance” press release for details).
The year saw a number of exciting developments continuing NS&I’s aim of being recognised as the UK’s leading and most trusted savings and investments organisation. 2004/05 was a year of accelerating customer accessibility and choice through investing in telephony, internet and regular saving capability. As a result NS&I gained 500,000 new customers and a growth in telephone sales from £790 million a year to £1.4 billion. NS&I also relaunched its web-site at the end of January 2005 which resulted in over £150 million sales in the first two months.
NS&I is one of the UK’s largest savings and investments providers, with 26 million customers and £69 billion currently invested. It provides retail savings and investments that are 100% secure, backed by HM Treasury. Its total balance of funds now represents 16% of the national debt.
Highlights of the year
Financial
- NS&I grew by £1.97 billion (net financing) against a target of £2 billion
- NS&I has a target to grow net financing by £15 billion from £63 billion in April 2003 to £78 billion in March 2008. It has grown by £5.4 billion in the first two years and is on target to achieve the five year target.
- NS&I saved the taxpayer £253.7 million by reducing the cost of government borrowing
- Gross sales were £11.06 billion
- Extensions to both the Siemens Business Services and Post OfficeTM contracts were signed
- NS&I gained 500,000 new customers.
Channels
- NS&I expanded its call centres from 80 fully trained and dedicated staff in 2001 to 300 in Blackpool, Durham and Glasgow, handling 3.2 million calls per year
- Telephone sales grew from £790 million to £1.4 billion especially after introducing telephone sales for Premium Bonds in July 2004
- Sales through Post Office® Counters and Post Office® lead generation were £6.7 billion
- NS&I re-launched its web-site (www.nsandi.com) in January 2005 which, for the first time offered Premium Bonds for sale. The new web-site brought in £150 million in its first two months and 50% of sales were from new customers
- NS&I introduced a regular savings option for Premium Bonds.
Products
- Investment limits for Savings Certificates and Children’s Bonus Bonds were raised to £15,000 per Issue (from £10,000) and £3,000 per Issue (from £1,000) respectively
- £5.7 billion was invested in Premium Bonds, bringing the total amount invested to £26.5 billion (now £27 billion).
- 7th issue of the Guaranteed Equity Bond, an investment product linked to the performance of FTSE 100, brought in nearly £200 million. In just over two years, NS&I has become the leading GEB provider in the UK.
- Easy Access Savings Account (launched in January 2004) to replace the Ordinary Account (closed 30th September 2004) saw £770 million deposited since its launch.
2005/06 has already seen NS&I launch a second £1 million jackpot monthly Premium Bond prize, launch TV advertising for the first time in six years, re-launch its unique Index-linked Savings Certificates under the banner of ‘Inflation-beating savings’ and NS&I signed up to the Financial Ombudsmen Service (voluntary jurisdiction scheme).
Alan Cook, NS&I chief executive, said: “The results show another healthy year, with our performance remaining in line with our long term financial objectives. It was marked by further building the capability of the business in meeting the needs of both taxpayers and the 21st century saver and investor. In continuing to invest, especially in telephony and the internet and in extending our key business partnerships, we are seeing the benefits of improving access to customers.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
- National Savings and Investments Annual Report and Accounts 2004-05 was presented to the House of Commons pursuant to section 7 of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 on 21st July 2005.
- NS&I was formed in 1861 and is a government department and an executive agency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, reporting to Ivan Lewis MP, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. It offers 100% security on all its products as they backed by HM Treasury.
- For further information, interviews and digital images, contact the NS&I media team.
Click here for a PDF copy of the Annual Report
Media team
NS&I has a number of spokespeople available for interviews and our experienced radio team is available via our ISDN line: 020 7602 4522.
The numbers below are for media use only.
Customers
wishing to contact NS&I can find details here.
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