Best-buy one-year savings account pays 5.25%: What you need to know

The products featured in this article have been independently selected by specialist journalists at This is Money. If you open an account through links marked with an asterisk, This is Money earns an affiliate commission. We will not allow this to affect our editorial independence.

Savers can now get 5.25 percent on an annual fix thanks to a new best-buy deal.

The agreement for one year* is offered through the National Bank of Egypt’s Raisin UK savings platform.

It is fully protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, meaning savings deposits are protected up to £85,000 per person.

Someone who deposits $10,000 into the account will earn $525 in interest at the end of the 12-month period.

According to Moneyfacts, the average one-year deal currently pays 4.15 percent.

That means someone who puts £10,000 into Raisin’s new deal will be better off by £110 after 12 months than the market average.

The next best rate on the market pays 5.07 percent, courtesy of SmartSave Bank.

> View the best fixed rate savings deals here

The National Bank of Egypt also offers a market-leading six-month fix at 4.55 percent and a nine-month fix at 4.78 percent, for those who prefer to fix for a shorter amount of time.

To open this savings account, savers must sign up online through Raisin’s platform.

They then need a minimum of £10,000 to open this particular deal. They are then allowed to set aside a maximum of £85,000.

Since this is a fixed rate deal, no withdrawals are allowed before the maturity date, except in exceptional circumstances, such as if an account holder dies, becomes mentally incapacitated or goes bankrupt.

What is a savings platform?

Raisin UK* is one of the many savings platforms that have emerged in recent years.

They help savers keep track of their money more easily and move money to better paying accounts with less administration.

They offer some of the best rates on the market, allow savers to manage multiple accounts in one place, and in some cases offer exclusive deals that beat the market.

Rival platforms include Hargreaves Lansdown Active Savings,* tiling, AJ Bell’s Cash Savings Hub*And Aviva saves.

A platform like Raisin makes sense for proactive savers who want to move their money around regularly to get the best rates possible, without having to set up multiple accounts in the process.

The new best buy is available through online savings platform Raisin UK

Raisin scores 3.8 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot and has 3.2 stars on Google reviews.

While it has many good reviews, it also has negative ones. Some complaints are about slow customer service and long waiting times when transferring money.

Raisin says that once customers have applied for a savings account and transferred their full deposit amount, the deposit will be held separately from their available balance while their application is reviewed.

Once their application is approved, their full deposit amount will be automatically transferred to the partner bank.

It says that it usually takes less than two business days from when their full deposit amount is available in their Raisin account before an approved savings account is opened.

What about the National Bank of Egypt?

Some may be concerned about depositing their money in a foreign-owned bank that they probably haven’t heard of.

Headquartered in Cairo, the bank was founded in the late 19th century and has been based in the UK since 1982. It is the oldest and largest bank in Egypt.

It offers buy-to-let mortgages, corporate and retail banking, along with trade finance.

Crucially, it has Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection, which protects money up to £85,000 per person and £170,000 per couple.