NS&I boss leaves Premium Bonds bank over missing savings scandal
The boss of state-backed banking giant NS&I has left the organization following the £470 million savings scandal.
Pensions minister Torsten Bell announced on Thursday that former HMRC boss Sir Jim Harra will replace Dax Harkins as chief executive of NS&I on an interim basis to “provide a fresh start”.
It emerged that tens of thousands of customers had taken legal action against the Treasury-backed savings bank, apparently because it had lost track of customers’ life savings.
The savings giant responsible for Premium Bonds is now launching a program to reconnect people with their cash, with deposits worth up to £476 million affected.
Mr Bell told the House of Commons: “I also want to make sure NS&I has the best leadership. From today, I have appointed Sir Jim Harra, former HMRC first permanent secretary, to serve as chief executive of NS&I on an interim basis to provide a fresh start for NS&I’s next phase of development.”
“I knew his predecessor, Dax Harkins, who had 22 years of public service at NS&I.
“As well as leading the organisation, Sir Jim will undertake a review over the next three months to detail the background to this tracking issue and set out what lessons need to be learned for NS&I going forward.
“I have discussed this matter with Sir Jim and I am confident that his extensive experience will guide NS&I over the coming months and I will ensure that Sir Jim’s review is shared with the chairs of the Treasury and Public Accounts committees once it is completed.”
Mr Bell said the causes of a tracking issue affecting NS&I customers “are being addressed and will not impact future customers”.
The pensions minister also told the House of Commons that “this matter is about tracking, not the security, of any funds held by NS&I”, adding that “the savings are 100 per cent safe”.
But he said NS&I had not fully responded to previous warning signs.
Concerns have been expressed about bereaved families having difficulty accessing their money.
Ms Bell said NS&I had notified the Treasury that there had been an operational failure to comprehensively pursue the accounts of some deceased customers.
He said: “The consequence of this failure is that not all savings are identified by NS&I and paid to the beneficiaries of their estates as they should be. In particular, processes have failed to comprehensively track some client assets spread across multiple profiles or systems.”
He added: “Bereaved families whose loved ones have accounts with NS&I will rightly be concerned about this news. Since the news broke, the Treasury has ensured that external advisers and legal experts, including EY, have been engaged to determine the scale of these errors.”
He said NS&I had reviewed more than 34 million customer records and the work was still ongoing but showed a maximum of 37,500 customers and deposits of up to £476 million were affected.
It added that three-quarters of the cases relate to the period between 2008 and 2025 and represent less than 0.2% of NS&I clients.
NS&I offers a range of savings and investments to more than 24 million customers, including more than 22 million Premium Bond holders.
Mr Bell added: “The FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) brought enforcement proceedings against Santander in 2018 in relation to the monitoring of accounts following notification that a customer had passed away. This attracted significant attention at the time.
“But what is now clear is that NS&I and its suppliers did not respond to these warning signs as fully as I and, more importantly, their customers expected. Nor did the last government act. Bereaved families whose loved ones have accounts with NS&I will be rightly concerned by this news.”
