Banking | Banking offers, rates and news

Sterling is set for further gains against the dollar in the third quarter, according to Caxton FX, the leading foreign exchange broker, and could touch $1.70 in the late summer or early autumn.

One in five Britons (21 per cent) fail to switch their current account, simply because they say they don't have time to do so, according to a study by Santander's UK current account brands, Abbey and Alliance & Leicester.

Lloyds TSB has become the first bank in the UK to launch ‘on demand' text message balance updates for its customers. The new Balance on Demand service means that customers can request an up to the minute snapshot of their account, straight to their mobile phone, simply by sending a text message.

Interest rates for bank customers who exceed their overdraft limit, or go into the red without an authorised facility from their provider have remained sky high over the last 12 months, despite a crash in the Bank of England base rate, according to MoneyExpert.com.

More than a third of UK adults (38 per cent) are unable to convert popular currencies into sterling and are losing out on a staggering £288 million a year on holiday as a result.

Figures from the BBA show that 145,000 post office-accessible accounts were opened in the first quarter of the year and 26,000 existing accounts upgraded.