When you have a SIPP with us, all funds must be paid into or out of the pension scheme audit account, which creates an audit record for the pension scheme. This includes contributions, pension payments and other monetary transactions.
The audit account for a pension scheme is not designed to hold large balances of cash for long periods of time, there are other products such as deposit accounts that are available for this.
The rate of interest paid on cleared balances held in the SIPP audit account is 1.00% per annum, paid monthly.
Mattioli Woods has a Treasury Committee that meets to discuss where client funds are held and agrees the rate of interest that is paid on cash held in the audit accounts.
There are multiple factors that influence the rate we can achieve on these accounts with the Bank of England’s base rate being one of these. The interest rate paid is not guaranteed to stay the same and is likely to change if the base rate changes, along with other factors. It can go up as well as down. If the rate changes, we will update this page to reflect the new rates, with new rates taking effect the first day of the following month. The Bank of England base rate can be found at www.bankofengland.co.uk.
The rate of interest paid on cleared balances held in the SSAS audit account is 1.45% per annum, paid monthly.
This rate is wholly decided by our SSAS banking provider based on market conditions and the prevailing Bank of England base rate.
We hold your SIPP cash with a range of carefully selected banks in pooled instant access, notice, and fixed-term deposit accounts. This comprehensive approach allows for both security and flexibility in how pension funds are managed.
Multiple banks are used to reduce client exposure to the risk of an individual bank failing. This diversification strategy means that your pension’s cash is distributed across several banking institutions rather than concentrated with a single provider, creating an additional layer of protection for your retirement funds.
The panel of banks we select from to hold your cash include the below, but not necessarily all at the same time:
All our banks have been selected as they meet or exceed our strict minimum requirements, including a minimum credit rating as assessed by Moody’s S&P and Fitch of A3/A- or better, a full UK banking licence, and participation in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). These rigorous selection criteria ensure that your pension funds are held with financially sound institutions that operate under comprehensive regulatory oversight and provide essential deposit protection.
Mattioli Woods Limited will retain an element of the banking interest rate earned. This comes from the interest received from our panel of banks in the pooled structure and is wholly independent of the quoted client interest rate.
Changes in banking interest rates directly affect the amount of interest generated so the amount of interest retained by Mattioli Woods is not guaranteed to stay the same and will likely change if the Bank Rate changes. It can go up or down.
The rate of interest earned by Mattioli Woods will be updated each quarter.
The following table shows the historic SIPP bank interest rate earned by Mattioli Woods:
| Period | Rate Earned by Mattioli Woods |
|---|---|
| 2025 Q1 | 2.75% |
| 2025 Q2 | To be published in July 2025 |
| 2025 Q3 | To be published in October 2025 |
| 2025 Q4 | To be published in January 2026 |
The pooling arrangement allows for more efficient cash management, better banking terms through combined balances, and simplified administrative processes, ultimately providing a more secure and effective service for all pension schemes. By consolidating cash across multiple client accounts, we can negotiate more favourable terms with our banking partners while maintaining the individual accounting of each client’s funds with precision.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme’s (FSCS) protection limit (currently £85,000 per account holder) applies to each banking licence to protect your money in the unlikely event of the failure of the bank.
The FSCS protection limit (currently £85,000 per account holder) applies to each banking licence to protect your money in the unlikely event of the failure of the bank.
For SSAS accounts this level of FSCS protection (up to £85,000) applies as your funds are held under one banking licence.
For SIPP accounts, cash is held in our pooled structure across multiple banking licences. This approach is designed to maximize the FSCS protection available to your pension funds in the unlikely event of a bank failure.
By diversifying cash holdings across different banking licences, we can provide multiples of the standard £85,000 FSCS protection limit. For example, if you have a single bank account then you are protected up to £85,000. However, if your cash is distributed across four different banking licences, up to £340,000 would be fully protected by the FSCS (i.e. 4 x £85,000). This strategic diversification offers an additional layer of security beyond the protection available with a single banking provider, helping to safeguard your retirement savings more comprehensively.
Our example above only includes SIPP balances but you should be aware the £85,000 FSCS protection limit applies across both SIPP and non-SIPP cash (such as savings, current and deposit accounts).
These rates only apply to pension schemes with audit accounts at our core banks. Any banks outside of Mattioli Woods’ core banking relationships will have interest rates specific to that bank and product. Please note that using a non-core bank carries a £350 per annum charge to the pension scheme. This cost covers additional administration required in processing actions and accessing banking information. Please contact us if you are unsure what bank account your scheme holds.
