Brits open more bank accounts

Thursday, November 24, 2005

More people are opening bank accounts and upgrading their accounts to fuller-featured accounts, according to the latest information from the Bank of England.

By the end of September this year, there were almost six million accounts with what is known as 'basic banking' functionality, i.e. the bank accounts cannot become overdrawn, can be used to pay bills and can accept direct debit and salary payments.

In the third quarter of the year, 138,000 new basic bank accounts were opened and over 4,000 were upgraded to more advanced bank accounts.

"Recent research commissioned by the BBA (British Bankers' Association) shows that over 90 per cent of basic bank account holders are confident that the account meets their needs," said Ian Mullen, chief executive of the BBA.

"The research also showed that people like the fact that they cannot get into debt on the account."

Since April 2003, the net total (accounts opened minus accounts closed) of accounts opened is 1.52 million.

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