A NATIONAL media report suggesting that UK savers with offshore deposits will be ‘forced’ to pay towards a depositor protection scheme has been dismissed as ‘pure speculation’.

The article in The Times newspaper yesterday said that savers with money in ‘tax havens such as Guernsey and the Isle of Man’ could be asked to fund such a scheme and that this proposal might follow the next government review of offshore centres.

The article quoted the opinion of an accountant, Andrew Jupp, who is head of tax at Tenon. UK Chancellor Alastair Darling announced the offshore review in his pre-budget speech last month. It will be led by Michael Foot, who has a distinguished pedigree as a regulator, notably with the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, as well as in the Bahamas.

Geoff Cook, the chief executive of Jersey Finance (pictured), said that although it was known that depositor protection would be included in the first phase of the review, there had been no proposals from the UK government about tax levied on offshore savings accounts.