NS&I picks BBC licensing boss to steer marketing

The Treasury-backed savings provider National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has appointed Karen Jones, managing director of the BBC’s licence fee collection agency, TV Licensing, as its marketing director.

Jones replaces Gill Cattanach, who left NS&I in January to return to Scotland to become head of marketing at Alliance Trust, a Dundee-based investment specialist. As marketing director, Jones will have a place on NS&I’s board and report to chief executive Alan Cook.

Jones will be responsible for advertising, direct marketing and marketing research for the organisation, which notched up &£12.7bn worth of sales in the year to 2004.

In the past she has worked at AXA, where she was marketing director of e-commerce, and is thought to have left in 2002 to work for General Motors-owned finance company GMAC-RFC. Jones subsequently joined BBC TV Licensing as managing director.

NS&I offers a range of savings products, including Premium Bonds, a mini-cash ISA and fixed and index-linked savings certificates. It spends about &£5m a year on advertising through agency Walsh Trott Chick Smith, and uses EHS Brann for its direct marketing activity.

NS&I has recently drawn criticism from private sector financial services companies, which through the Association of British Insurers claimed it benefits from an unfair competitive advantage because it is not regulated.