Press Release

NS&I AND TESCO PERSONAL FINANCE AIM TO HELP BUSY SAVERS

1st March 2006

Partnership extended to over 700 stores nationwide today

Following a successful pilot, National Savings and Investments (NS&I) and Tesco Personal Finance have extended their partnership to over 700 stores from today.

The partnership, which seeks to make it easier to save with NS&I, will allow Tesco customers to pick up brochures for NS&I's tax-free Premium Bonds and its range of Inflation-beating Index-linked Savings Certificates alongside their weekly shop.

With a customer base of 26 million people and £72 billion invested, NS&I has sought new ways of reaching out to an even wider audience by signing up new partners to market its products. Tesco Personal Finance is the first new partnership.

Tesco customers will enjoy the same benefit of 100% security as any other NS&I customer. They will be able to apply for these two leading NS&I products by post, telephone or online via www.tesco.com.

The partnership

NS&I chose Tesco Personal Finance in September 2005 to market its products to make saving and investing with NS&I more accessible. This will be achieved through Tesco's proven retail and financial services experience, in store-marketing opportunities and access to over 15 million customers every week.

Following a successful pilot in 50 stores over the last four months, the leaflets will now be available in over 700 stores. The stores cover the breadth of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

For customers who already have Premium Bonds or Inflation-beating Savings and a debit card at hand, an additional purchase by phone or online should take less than two minutes.

The partnership, which will be supported with co-marketing activity and in-store promotions, will run initially for five years.

Trevor Bayley, NS&I's acting chief executive, said: "This marketing partnership will make it even more straightforward and easy for people to find out about our savings and investments products, and opens NS&I up to a wider audience.

"This is an exciting time in NS&I's development and is especially important for giving new customers, as well as existing NS&I customers, yet another way of getting into the savings habit."

Jim Macdonald, Tesco Personal Finance chief executive, said: "We want to help people reach their savings goals, so this is great news for our customers.  By combining the unique range of NS&I products with the accessibility and convenience of Tesco stores, we can help make saving for the future easier than ever."