Savings once a bank has been nationalised

[Barquentine]

I have a friend who has a substantial amount of savings in a particular bank. If the bank is fully nationalised, will he lose any savings over the Government's guaranteed safety limit of �50,000?

[Ethel]

Only if the country goes bump.

[factor-fiction]

All that happens is the government would own the bank. Yes, if the government went broke then the savings wouldn't be guaranteed since the FSCS scheme doesn't really hold enough cash to repay everyone in the event of a crisis. But if the govenment went broke then savers with all UK banks would be in the same boat.
The losers with nationalisation would be the shareholders who would find their shares are worthless.
Personally i don't see the point of full nationalisation- if the government owns say 75% then it has majority control and effectively can make all the decisions. Why bother taking the remaining 25%?

[J'Adore]

get your friend to change banks just in case.

[factor-fiction]

Although, J'Adore, by changing banks he/she could be going to one that's even less safe....

But if anyone in this position has any worries they should consider spreading their savings so they lie below �50k for any one bank group.