Number of current account customers ditching and switching banks up 6% annually

Updated

The number of current account customers ditching and switching bank or building society is up by 6% year-on-year, figures show.

Between July 1 2017 and June 30 2018, 965,317 switches were completed, marking a 6% increase on the previous 12 months, according to payments body Bacs, which oversees the current account switch service (Cass).

Nearly half a million ( 499,801) switches were completed in the first half of 2018, up 7% compared with the same period in 2017.

Some 4.9 current account switches have taken place using the seven-day switching service since it launched in 2013.

The service aims to make it easier to move to another current account provider, by automatically moving regular payments over to the new account and redirecting payments accidentally made to the old account.

The report also includes figures voluntarily provided by banks and building societies showing net gains and losses from customers using Cass but not including customers switches made outside the scheme.

The latest figures provided show that in the first quarter of 2018, Halifax was the biggest gainer from customers using Cass, followed by Nationwide and HSBC.

Challenger bank Starling also experienced significant net gains.

Several big names also made net losses in the first quarter among customers using Cass, including TSB, which made a net loss of over 5,000 customers in the first quarter of 2018, following a net gain of 13,064 customers in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The figures are for the period before TSB suffered major IT woes.

The chaos started following an IT migration in April, with up to 1.9 million TSB customers finding themselves locked out of their accounts.

Barclays, Lloyds Bank and RBS were also among those who made net losses of customers using Cass in the first quarter of 2018.

Here are the net gains and losses made by banks and building societies from customers using the current account switch service between January 1 and March 31 (figures do not include switches made outside Cass):

- AIB Group UK (includes the First Trust Bank and Allied Irish Bank GB brand switches), minus 1,033
- Bank of Ireland (includes Post Office brand switches), minus 800
- Bank of Scotland, 24
- Barclays, minus 17,628
- Clydesdale Bank (includes Yorkshire Bank brand switches), minus 11,831
- Co-operative (includes Smile brand switches), minus 14,108
- Danske, minus 294
- Halifax, 33,942
- HSBC (includes First Direct and Marks & Spencer Bank brand switches), 20,885
- Lloyds Bank, minus 14,114
- Nationwide, 28,763
- NatWest, 634
- RBS (includes Adam & Company, Coutts and Isle of Man brand switches), minus 11,022
- Santander, minus 10,536
- Starling Bank, 1,153
- Tesco Bank, 200
- TSB, minus 5,126
- Ulster Bank, minus 1,086

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