Best to leave money in one bank?

Hello there,
I'm dealing with my mother's accounts at the moment and before making changes, I thought I'd drop by here and see what this very useful forum thinks. She's elderly, but in good health, and has had a fair sum sitting in a very old and unproductive account (based on ECB rates) at First Active, now Ulster Bank.
All the contingencies bearing on her age and legal status, etc., have been considered, and I am planning to transfer most of the money into Ulster Bank's 18 month account at 6.5% gross, and put the rest in the e-account that allows access and pays just over 3%.
Is it stupid to leave all the money in one bank? More to the point, is it risky to have more than 100,000 in one account? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

sahd said:

Deposits of upto €100,000 per institution are covered by the Irish bank Guarantee. If it was me - I would put no more than 100k in any one bank. Spread the risk.

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Deposits are protected to an unlimited level in the 3 Irish banks. There is no 100,000 EUR cap.

Babel said:

All the contingencies bearing on her age and legal status, etc., have been considered, and I am planning to transfer most of the money into Ulster Bank's 18 month account at 6.5% gross, and put the rest in the e-account that allows access and pays just over 3%.

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Is 1 year 6 months too long a period of time to lock for an elderly person?

Have you explored the best buy threads? There are better options than the Ulster Bank e-Saver account.

Thanks very much for your quick replies, Ciaran and sahd.
Presumably Ulster Bank isn't one of the 3 Irish banks you refer to, Ciaran.
With regard to the length of time, it should be fine as I'm planning on putting more than enough money to cover for any eventuality into an accessible account.

Babel said:

Presumably Ulster Bank isn't one of the 3 Irish banks you refer to, Ciaran.

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Exactly, Ulster is RBS owned, it is a UK bank.

It falls under the UK guarantee which is 100,000 EUR.

Thanks once again, Ciaran. I think I'll split it up between KBC, Investec and Ulster Bank.

CiaranT said:

Exactly, Ulster is RBS owned, it is a UK bank.

It falls under the UK guarantee which is 100,000 EUR.

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Not sure if the "UK" guarantee is just a typo but if not -
Doesn't really matter if it is owned by a UK bank. Ulster Bank is regulated by the Irish Authorities, and therefore falls under the standard Irish €100K Guarantee.

Reg OP: I would spread the money and leave only 100K per Institution if it is a savings account.

Regardless of the amount guaranteed it makes sense to spread savings around a bit. Imagine RBS goes bankrupt and deposits are frozen; it could take a long time before you get reimbursed by the UK government. Even if you think the likelihood of that happening is very small, at least when you have savings spread over several institutions the risk of all the banks, that you deposit with, going out of business at the same time is lower.