Barclays calls for savings 'taxation incentive'

Date: 15th January 2009

The high street lender Barclays has called for the government to provide credit-crunched savers with taxation incentives.

Speaking to Channel Four News, the bank's chief executive John Varley called for frugal savers to be compensated for their diminishing savings returns.

His comments referenced the Bank of England's recent aggressive base rate cutting, which has seen both mortgage payments and savings rates plummet.

Mr Varley told the programme: "The biggest issue about zero or close to zero interest rates is the implication for savers and it is important for us to not lose sight of the fact … savers outnumber borrowers in this country by a significant margin."

He added that the government must introduce an incentive for savings, as the ability of lenders to provide high returns was "quite constrained".

Earlier this week, the Liberal Democrats revealed that up to 1.8 million families had potentially been overpaid tax credits in the last four years.