Holding the accounts of almost 600,000 children, Family Investments is a leading UK provider of Child Trust Funds. It will offer the Abbey Child Trust Fund, effective immediately.

The Abbey Child Trust Fund, provided by Family Investments, will be a stakeholder account, and will be invested in a balanced global fund managed by Santander Asset Management.

“We are already the UK’s favourite CTF provider and are delighted to be partnering with Abbey.” said John Reeve, chief executive of Family Investments.

“As specialists in providing financial products for families, we are committed to expanding our offering to make life-long tax efficient savings easier for families and CTFs are an important component in this regard.

Reza Attar-Zadeh, director of Abbey savings accounts and investments, added: “Family Investments’ unrivalled expertise and experience in Child Trust Funds made them the clear choice to provide our popular CTF.

“Partnering with Family Investments means that parents can give their children a great financial head start with a trusted provider.”

Meanwhile, the department store Debenhams has said that it is currently experiencing elevated sales of piggy banks and other money boxes as a result of diminishing confidence in savings accounts providers.

The fall of British banks such as Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, and the freezing of customers deposits in Icelandic online savings account provider Icesave, has shaken some savers’ faith in savings accounts and encouraged them to withdraw their money in search of a safer place.

Combined with falling interest rates, which are in some cases seeing savers receive less than one per cent interest on their investment, many are opting to save their money at home instead, despite the lack of protection from the Government or home insurance for large amounts of cash kept in the home if it was lost or stolen.

© Fair Investment Company Ltd