Anybody know anything about ICICI bank - is it a safe place for savings?

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I suddenly have some money to invest and am looking for a safe place to put it - having looked on some of the comparison websites ICICI bank seems to have a good rate but it's not one that I have heard of really before.

I was just wondering if anybody has had any dealings with them and knows if they are any good? Safe, reliable, good customer service... you know the sort of thing you want in these troubled times!

I mentioned I might use them to my mother who immediately had a freak out as they are not a high street name and have a foreign parent bank. BUT the rate of interest is pretty high if I leave it in for a year so that could be good too....

Thanks!

They're an Indian bank aren't they? Check if covered by FSA scheme. Also, consider that even if they are, there may be (more) hassle getting money back from a non-UK bank. Other than that, I know nothing of how safe they are.

Thanks Tinker.

Yes, they do seem to be an Indian bank. They say they are covered by the FSA scheme and they appear on the main moneysaver/money supermarket/etc sites, so I assume that they are at least some sort of proper bank (as opposed to a website that somebody has randomly set up as a con).

But knowing only that about them, I was wondering if it would be more hassle because they had a parent bank that was out of the UK - that's why I was wondering if anybody knew anything... I can feel the £££ signs whizzing around in my eyes when I look at the interest rates compared with some of the big UK names but given everything that is going on, part of me then thinks - hold on, maybe a more sensible thing to just get a lesser rate in return for a more 'known' place with a UK setup.

And then I think of B&B and HBOS and think that you always thought of them as 'known' places with a UK set up and that doesn't seem to mean as much as it did a couple of weeks ago!

I had savings with B&B and they've simply moved to Santander. Politically, any govt is less likely to let a UK institution fail.

i find the advice on Motley Fool website pretty solid.

hI zTT,
I've got an account with ICICI bank. I'e heard their customer service is not so great,and while I haven't had any particular problems withthem they did charge me £20 TO TRASNFER MONEY OUT- i HASN'T NOTICED THAT IN THE SMALL PRINT WHEN i SIGNED UPTO THE ACCOUNT. Oops sorry for caps. They do not have a great credit rating, but I;m not sure why- they and the Reservce Bank of India said recently they are well-capitalised, having doubled their capital to over $8 billion this year. i have about thirty thousand with htem but I am wathcing them like a hawk, just in case. They did have a problem around 1 October when a mini-run started on the bajk but they quelled that wit some trotting out of facts and verification of those by hte reserve bank of india, and since then I believe their share price went up (or art least futures on the bank, which I think must be even better,?). right now, I would go for security over raTES. sANTANDER SEEMS TO BE GOOD? (ie. abbey, B&B, Alliance and leicester) But the main thing is, don't lock youre money in anywhere right now, you need to be able to move it around with minimum hassle in case of problems. Things might be clearer in a month or two.
I am no expert but had money in Icesave so have been doing a lot of research lately. there's lots of info on ICICI out on the net so do some searches. I am thinking to move my money out of ICICI because I just don't know how to judge whether they're in trouble in good time, but at the moment I;m checking info onthem at least twice a day and sitting tight, I can move my money out quickly if necessary. Obviously don't put more than £50,000 in any one bank.

Thanks everybody, I'd forgotten about the Fool site, LD, I will go and check it out.

Yes, I am definitely thinking of going for security over rates FS, and making sure that I split stuff around.

Tinker, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said you thought that the British Govt would be most likely to help British banks etc to avoid going under so will be looking, think that that was maybe the nagging feeling I was having so I'm going to steer clear of them for now, especially after reading about some of their small print stuff (thanks FS for that!) - and note to self, will have to double check all the small print stuff really carefully at the moment as I guess that that is where all the little catches like that are going to be added and hidden at the moment...

Ing are paying 6.5% at the moment & I believe are fairly reliable

(They are Dutch though so that Govt guarantee may not apply in future?)

ING has bailed out some of the Icelandic lot apparently???

Not sure if that's good or bad