• Currently, 12% of Brits with a digital-only account say they’ve closed their traditional bank account and gone fully digital
• The average amount held in a digital-only bank account is £3,214

15 May 2019, London-

Despite the increasing numbers of Brits turning to digital-only banks, new research by personal finance comparison site finder.com has revealed that almost half (47%) of these accounts have less than £1,000 in them.

Furthermore, 3 in 10 of the accounts (30%) have just £100 or less in them. Across all digital-only accounts, the average amount held is £3,214.

Of those who have opened a digital-only account, 12% say they’ve closed their conventional bank accounts and taken their banking fully online. A further 38% say they will keep their traditional bank account as their primary one for the time being, keeping the digital-only bank accounts for things like travelling and their money-tracking features.

However, 63% of those who plan to open a digital-only bank account say they eventually plan to use it as their main account, meaning they would have their wages paid in and direct debits taken out of it.

The region that appears most committed to new banking technology is Wales, where 78% of people with digital-only bank accounts say they use (or plan to use) this as their main account. At the other end of the scale, 54% of East Anglians with these accounts plan to make them their primary ones.

Men are putting substantially more money into their digital-only bank accounts. On average, they have £3,649 held in them compared to £2,717 for women. Slightly higher numbers of men are fully committing to these accounts as well, with 13% closing their traditional bank accounts as opposed to 11% of females.

Previous research from Finder found that a quarter (24%) of Brits will have an account with a digital-only bank within the next 5 years, with 1 in 10 (9%) saying they already have one.

To see more digital banking usage statistics, gender and regional breakdowns of the research including an interactive map, visit: https://www.finder.com/uk/digital-bank-usage

Commenting on the findings, Jon Ostler, CEO (UK) at finder.com said: “Technology has enabled digital-only banks and personal finance apps to offer some amazing features like spending analytics, automatically investing your spare change and safety features such as being able to instantly freeze and unfreeze your card.

“However, our research shows that consumers are still hesitant about putting significant amounts of money in these accounts, and making them their primary ones. Although there are signs that this scepticism will soften over time as the technology and brands becomes more well known, but it’s clear that fintech challengers also have a way to go in convincing consumers that they are a safe, long-term option for their money.”

–Ends–

Methodology

• Finder.com commissioned Onepoll to carry out a nationally representative survey of adults aged 18+
• A total of 2,000 people were questioned throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with representative quotas for gender, age and region
• Jon Ostler, CEO (UK) at finder.com is available for comment regarding the research