Current Account Switch Service reaches 9 million switches milestone
- The latest Current Account Switch Service Dashboard reveals that between January and March 2023, 341,075 switches took place, a figure that is over 70% higher than the same period last year.
- The past 12 months (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023) saw over 1 million switches take place through the Service.
- As the Current Account Switch Service approaches its tenth anniversary the Service has now facilitated 9.1 million switches since launch and successfully redirected 134.4 million payments.
- End-user switching data, which is three months in arrears, showed that Nationwide had the highest net switching gains between October and December 2022, followed by NatWest, Starling Bank, and Triodos Bank.
27 April, 2023: The Current Account Switch Service today publishes its Q1 2023 Dashboard1 reporting the latest switching figures and trends.
Between January and March 2023, the Current Account Switch Service processed 341,075 switches, an increase of more than 70% when compared to the same period last year, which saw 196,964 switches take place. Additionally, the past 12 months (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023) saw 1,131,067 switches take place through the Service.
Current Account Switch Service end-user data (which is three months in arrears) shows that from October to December 2022, Nationwide saw the highest net switching gains (111,941), followed by NatWest (5,646), Starling Bank (1,810), and Triodos Bank (151).
As the Current Account Switch Service approaches its tenth anniversary, the figures from Q1 2023 reveal that it has facilitated 9.1 million switches in total, while 134.4 million payments have been successfully redirected. The high switching figures over the past 12 months (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023) signal that end users may be re-considering The high totals in Q1 2023 align with several incentives and switching offers from providers, characteristic of a competitive switching environment for consumers and businesses.
Small business and small charity accounts also saw a strong Q1, with 2,454 accounts being switched in March alone. The overall switching figure for small business and small charity accounts in Q1 stands at 6,421 switches, which represents a 10% increase on figures from the previous quarter (5,835 switches in Q4 2022).
Q1 data reveals the Current Account Switch Service surpassed its awareness target by 4% to hit a target of 79%. Further, 86% of Current Account Switch Service customers were satisfied with the process, representing a small shift move from “fairly satisfied” to “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied”. The latest data also highlighted that 86% of Current Account Switch Service users would recommend the process.
The latest data2 for Q1 2023 shows that almost 7 in 10 (69%) switchers preferred their new current account to their previous one, with service-related, non-financial benefits continuing to be the main reasons end users preferred their new account.
End users cited online or mobile app banking (41%), customer service and interest rate gained (both 29%) as the main reasons for preferring their new account. Spending benefits (25%) was the next most important reason for end users preferring their new current account.
Euan Ballantyne, Head of Product at Pay.UK, owner and operator of the Current Account Switch Service, said:
1 Full details are available in the latest edition of the Current Account Switch Service Dashboard (no.38), and includes the latest customer movement data for Q4 2022 are here.
2 Online research with over 2,000 respondents conducted by the Current Account Switch Service.