Most popular bank

ccdorset

Perhaps not a money saving question as such, but with lots of us switching our bank accounts, I wondered if there were any figures on how many customers each bank now has.

I've seen a few articles about how many customers banks were gaining and losing, but they don't seem to mention how many customers each bank still has in total.

Are the big four banks still the big four or are others catching up?

jonesMUFCforever

My opinion - people these days have multiple accounts with more than one bank.
Some are opened purely as a mule account to transfer accounts to another bank for a reward.

I don't see how the present system of paying to attract customers is profitable for any bank but what do I know?

Herbalus

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

My opinion - people these days have multiple accounts with more than one bank.
Some are opened purely as a mule account to transfer accounts to another bank for a reward.

I think this is common only on MSE forums. Anybody outside of the forums looks shocked and genuinely perplexed when I mention I have more than 2 current accounts.

I think Santander mentioned in their advertising that they have over a million 123 account customers, but can't remember when that was.

This Telegraph article from July 2014 suggests there are 49 million current accounts in the UK

JuicyJesus

http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Business_economics/Banks.html

Lloyds Banking Group (TSB, Halifax and Lloyds), followed by RBS Group (NatWest and RBS), followed by HSBC and then by Barclays and Santander. There is no break down by brand.

The position of HSBC surprises me - they were, historically, quite low on market share relative to the other big four.

FIRSTTIMER

In my opinion...the Lloyds group are easy to get accounts with....followed by the Santander/Barclays group...and the top end is the hsbc group...

Dird

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

My opinion - people these days have multiple accounts with more than one bank

As Herbalus said. Even when I told my sister/uncle how much can be made from switching they're still not interested.
Up until I found MSE last month I've only had 1 current account & never switched from Lloyds

SnowTiger

Herbalus wrote: »

I think this is common only on MSE forums. Anybody outside of the forums looks shocked and genuinely perplexed when I mention I have more than 2 current accounts.

I think Santander mentioned in their advertising that they have over a million 123 account customers, but can't remember when that was.

This Telegraph article from July 2014 suggests there are 49 million current accounts in the UK

54 million active bank accounts in the UK in 2008 according to this BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7509375.stm. Little more than one per adult.

colsten

From a recent extensive report into PCAs (Personal Current Accounts) done for the government:

Just under half of PCA customers (48%) hold more than one PCA, and 30% hold PCAs with more than one bank, though only 22% actually use a PCA with more than one bank.

The number of PCAs held by an individual varied. A half (52%) of respondents had only one PCA (with any bank) but more than a quarter (28%) had two PCAs and a fifth (19%) had three or more PCAs with at least one bank.

https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/555cabd0ed915d7ae2000007/PCA_Banking_Report.pdf

Worth noting that these figures are not statistics but the result of a very extensive survey.

Caladan

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

My opinion - people these days have multiple accounts with more than one bank.
Some are opened purely as a mule account to transfer accounts to another bank for a reward.

I don't see how the present system of paying to attract customers is profitable for any bank but what do I know?

I've often wondered the same. Especially since it attracts the kind of savvy people who, after receiving their payment/bonus/whatever will then look for the next big deal and move away again and probably wont be lured into a cross-sell of other products.

Would be really interesting (to a dull kinda guy like me) to see a study on the profits generated.

PeacefulWaters

Caladan wrote: »

I've often wondered the same. Especially since it attracts the kind of savvy people who, after receiving their payment/bonus/whatever will then look for the next big deal and move away again and probably wont be lured into a cross-sell of other products.

Would be really interesting (to a dull kinda guy like me) to see a study on the profits generated.

90% of those switchers aren't as savvy as you think!