Banks' commitment to financial inclusion continues

The BBA continues to highlight the banking sector’s commitment to increasing the number of consumers being provided with access to the financial system.

Latest statistics show that on average, over 150,000 basic bank accounts are being set up each quarter.

The fourth quarter of 2006 saw a net total (accounts opened less accounts closed) of 153,518 post office-accessible accounts opened and 26,533 existing accounts upgraded to fuller? featured accounts. Since the launch of Universal Banking in April 2003, a net total of 2.26 million post office-accessible accounts have been opened and more than 230,000 of those accounts upgraded.

Based on BBA research1 showing that 51% of customers who open a Basic Bank Account were previously unbanked, a net total of around 1.2 million accounts have now been opened by customers with no previous banking relationship. This demonstrates significant progress towards the goal of halving the April 2003 total of 2.8 million adults in households without a bank account.

Banks were offering basic accounts accessible through branches, mobile branches and ATMs well before the advent of Universal Banking. A net total of 669,060 such accounts have been opened and 191,891 upgraded since April 2003, with the total number of these accounts currently standing at 3.84 million.

Angela Knight, incoming chief executive of the BBA, said “Progress on the shared goal with HM Treasury is steady and sustained – not only do we continue to see basic accounts attracting customers, but one-in-ten accounts are subsequently upgraded to accounts with a wider range of features.”