They used to say you were more likely to get divorced than break up with your bank. The high street institutions we stick with for most of our adult lives are often the ones who offered us a free railcard at university.
But this should no longer buy our loyalty, as the amount of interest they pay is likely to be derisory. Despite 11 rate rises in a row from the Bank of England, some £256bn worth of cash in savings accounts is earning zero or very little interest, according to research published this week. On Thursday, the UK’s financial regulator warned MPs of “onerous interventions” if banks continued to profit from the customer inertia.
As more of us rediscover the long-forgotten savings habit, however, we are voting with our feet. Record numbers of consumers switched banks in the final quarter of 2022, according to the latest data from the Current Account Switching Service. The annual total of 1mn switchers was up 20 per cent on the year before; the quarter figures due next week are likely to show further progress.