UK account switching service awareness below target

This is in spite of statistics released by Bacs which show that in the 12-month period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015, 1.1 million customers ditched their old bank and moved to a new one (up by 4% as compared to the previous 12 months).

By the end of June 2015 , 69% of people in the UK were aware of the Current Account Switch Service – which is up from 58% in the month it was launched (September 2013). Customer confidence in the service has also increased, up from 56% to 64% over the same time period. However, these figures are below a 75% target for customer awareness and consumer confidence, set for the middle of 2015. Since launch, there have been more than 2.02 million switches.

The launch of the service has cut the length of time it takes to switch a current account from up to 30 working days to just seven. All outgoing and incoming payments are automatically moved to the new account. Payments accidentally made to or requested from the old account are automatically redirected to the new account for 36 months after an account is switched. Customers using the service are guaranteed not to be left out of pocket if anything goes wrong with the service, which is managed and owned by Bacs, the company responsible for direct debit and Bacs direct credit in the UK.

Figures released voluntarily by current account providers and cited by BT.com show that in Q4 2014, Barclays made a net loss of 28,000 customers using the switching scheme, while NatWest lost 16,000, the same source indicates. Santander, which offers 123 current account offering cash back as well as in-credit interest, made a net gain of more than 45,000 customers between October and December, and Halifax, which offers customers GBP 100 to switch, gained more than 40,000 customers. The figures provided by current account providers only include personal customers, small businesses and small charities which have switched using the guarantee under the seven-day switching service. Customers who chose not to use this service were not included in the data.