NS&I spends £50k on new logo while slashing rates

Government- backed bank National Savings & Investments spent tens of thousands of pounds implementing a new corporate logo, while cutting savers’ returns to as little as 0.01pc.

A Freedom of Information request lodged by Telegraph Money found Britain’s most popular savings institution spent £47,667 on the design, print and implementation of its new logo.

Earlier this year the new branding replaced NS&I’s iconic logo featuring a conker emerging from its shell, which had been in place since 2002.

Experts said this outlay was galling for savers who have seen their interest rates repeatedly cut. NS&I has also been repeatedly criticised for falling customer service standards.

Anna Bowes of Savings Champion, a savings expert, said: “Any customer of NS&I is bound to feel very disappointed and let down to learn that so much has been spent on updating a logo, at a time that customers had seen disastrous rate cuts followed by the anxiety of not being able to access their money in a timely manner – or speak to anyone who could help them.”

NS&I made swingeing cuts to many of its savings accounts last November, affecting more than 21 million savers. Rates on its Income Bonds fell from a market-leading 1.16pc to 0.01pc on Nov 24, a cut of more than 99pc. At the same time, its Direct Saver was lowered from 1pc to 0.15pc and its Invest

ment Account from 0.8pc to 0.01pc. The odds of winning Premium Bond prizes were then lengthened in December.

At the same time, NS&I was spending tens of thousands of pounds on its new corporate identity. A saver would theoretically need to deposit almost £500m in NS&I’s Income Bonds for a year to earn interest equivalent to the sum spent on its new logo.

Documents disclosed to this newspaper showed NS&I spent more than £34,000 on concepts, design and artwork, plus almost £6,000 on new corporate stationery. Ms Bowes added: “The iconic ‘conker’ logo has disappeared – probably appropriate considering the lack of growth most savers can expect with NS&I’s rates as they are.”

NS&I said the new logo was designed to help it attract “new, younger customers” and was part of a wider improvement programme.

“Our original logo was no longer fit for purpose as it was designed for a print environment and was not adaptable for the digital environment that NS&I now operates in,” a spokesman said. “A new logo was created that would be suitable for all of NS&I’s channels.”

As well as cutting rates, the organisation has come under fire for poor customer service standards. NS&I boss Ian Ackerley apologised to customers earlier this year for soaring waiting times and a sharp rise in complaints. Many customers have moved their cash elsewhere. The top easy-access savings account on the market today is Tandem Bank’s Instant Access Saver. This account pays 0.65pc to savers, 65 times the return of NS&I’s Income Bonds.