Commenting on this, Andy Hutchinson, head of savings at Nationwide, said: “The Nationwide Savings Index and its three sub indices – Importance of Savings, Savings Environment and Future Savings – all rose in July 2009. This is very encouraging and could be the strongest evidence yet that confidence in the savings market is beginning to return, even though this is not yet carrying through to action.
“Improving attitudes towards the importance of saving pushed the Importance of Savings Index up by 13 points from the previous month – an unprecedented rise. In addition, the Savings Environment Index rose by six points, driven by more people who believe now is a good time to save and fewer people who believe that Government policy discourages consumers from saving.
“Looking at the Future Savings Index, this is now at its highest level since the Index began in June 2008. While this is certainly encouraging, the number of people who believe they will save less in six months’ time still outnumbers those who believe they can save more. Nonetheless, what has driven the Future Savings Index up is the fact that this difference between those who believe they will save more and those who believe they will save less in the future is now smaller than ever, which shows that confidence about saving in the future is creeping up.
“The increase in the Savings Index and, in particular, the Future Savings Index to an all-time record high is an encouraging development. The release of the second quarter GDP figures confirmed that the UK is undergoing the deepest recession since the Second World War, underlining the importance of saving for a rainy day. The experience of recession appears to be generating a shift in attitude toward savings, reflected in the largest increase on record in the Importance of Savings Index. It has taken some time for this shift in attitudes to take place, perhaps because of the very large cut in interest rates over the last year.”
