Savings confidence reaches all time high

The Savings Index increased 10 points to 87:

• The Importance of Savings Index increased five points to 91 - more people (57%, an increase of 2% from August) believe it is important for them to personally save.
• The Savings Environment Index increased 11 points to 77. More people (20%, an increase of 4% from August) believe now is a good time to save given the current economic situation.
• The Future Savings Index increased 16 points to 121. There are now more people who believe they will be saving more in six months' time than they do now (21%, an increase of 3% from August) than people who believe they will be saving less than they do now (17%, a decrease of 3% from August). This is the first time that this has happened since the Index began.

Andy Hutchinson, head of savings at Nationwide, said: "We believe that the strong rise in the Savings Index reflects the parallel bounce in the overall feel of consumer confidence in September. It is possible households are becoming increasingly confident that the recession is coming to an end, even though their positive sentiment may be premature. This could have boosted confidence in consumers' ability to save in the future and it will be particularly interesting next month to see the impact of the recent ISA changes for the over-50s.

"Finally, while the latest increases recorded across the savings indices are encouraging, the falls seen last month serve as a reminder that we should remain cautious because the market may not yet have stabilised."