We gathered the latest banking statistics on the biggest and best banks in the UK, along with carrying out our own research revealing how often people are switching their accounts. Discover the latest statistics below.
Banking in the UK: Highlights
HSBC has the largest market share of UK banks at £125.1 billion in July 2024.
The next four largest UK banks’ market share combined is still £9.6 billion short of HSBC’s.
Barclays is the most popular UK bank by number of customers with 48 million in 2023.
Chase, first direct and Starling have the highest customer satisfaction rate with 100%.
Only 1 in 7 Brits (14%) have switched bank accounts to take advantage of a switching offer.
There were 433,701 account switches between October and December 2023, the highest since the launch of The Current Account Switch Service.
1.28 million Brits switched bank account providers in 2023.
Natwest had the highest net switching gains during the third quarter of 2023 with 59,158 new customers.
What is the most popular bank in the UK?
The most popular bank in the UK is Barclays, with 48 million people choosing to bank here. HSBC comes in second with 42 million customers, followed by Lloyds with 27 million customers.
What are the biggest banks in the UK by market share?
HSBC has the largest market share out of all UK banks by far, at approximately £125.1 billion in July 2024. This is more than 3 times larger than Lloyds, the second largest UK bank by market share at £36.6 billion. Barclays is in third place with £32.7 billion, followed closely by Natwest (£27.1 billion) and Standard Chartered Bank (£18.5 billion).
HSBC had the highest net profit among UK banks by far in 2023, generating £31 billion. This was more than the next four largest UK banks combined. Lloyds came second with £5.5 billion, followed by Barclays with £5.3 billion, Natwest with £4.6 billion and Standard Chartered with £4.4 billion.
Although traditional UK banks tend to have a higher market share and number of customers, digital challenger banks seem to outperform them when it comes to customer satisfaction.
In the 2024 Finder Banking Customer Satisfaction Awards, Chase, Starling and first direct had the highest customer satisfaction score. 100% of the people we surveyed said they would recommend Chase, first direct and Starling to a friend.
None of the top five UK banks by number of customers placed in the top five for customer satisfaction. Lloyds, which was placed in third for customer numbers, with a total of 27 million customers, placed 8th for customer satisfaction with 93%.
The majority of the top-ranked UK banks for customer satisfaction were challenger digital banks, despite having lower numbers of customers. This includes Monzo which scored 98% and Nationwide which scored 96%.
What are the biggest banks in the UK by total assets
The bank with the largest amount of assets in 2023 was HSBC, with £2.38 trillion in assets. This is a 2% decrease from 2022 when HSBC had £2.45 trillion in assets. Barclays had £1.51 trillion worth of assets in 2022, and now has £1.48 trillion in assets, also a 2% decrease.
Lloyds had £0.88 trillion worth of assets in 2023, the same as in 2022. Natwest had a 5.5% decrease from £0.72 trillion in 2022 to £0.69 trillion in 2023. Standard Chartered saw the biggest decrease in percentage out of the five largest UK banks, going from £0.68 trillion in assets in 2022 to £0.64 trillion in 2023 (5.9% decrease).
How many people are taking advantage of bank switching deals?
Our 2023 survey found that 14% of people in the UK have switched banks to take advantage of a switching deal before, meaning that 86% haven’t. 39.8% of the people who said they haven’t used a switching deal say they haven’t switched because they are loyal to their current banking provider, 13.3% said the process is too time-consuming and 11.3% said it’s too stressful to do so.
Matthew Boyle is a banking and mortgages publisher at Finder. He has a 7-year history of publishing helpful guides to assist consumers in making better decisions. In his spare time, you will find him walking in the Norfolk countryside admiring the local wildlife. See full bio
Matthew's expertise
Matthew has written 285 Finder guides across topics including:
Helping first-time buyers apply for a mortgage
Comparing bank accounts and highlighting useful features
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