Number of households without bank accounts cut by half

The Government and the Financial Inclusion Taskforce have announced that the shared goal to halve the number of adults living in households without access to a bank account has been achieved.

The shared goal was agreed in December 2004 between the Government and the banks. The latest report on access to banking by the Financial Inclusion Taskforce shows that the number has fallen from 2 million in 2003/04 to less than 900,000 in 2007/08.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury said: "We welcome the announcement that this very important goal has now been achieved. The shared goal is a great example of government, industry and third sector partners working together to ensure that everyone can access the financial services they need to get by day-to-day."

Brian Pomeroy, chair of the Financial Inclusion Taskforce said: "This is extremely good news and it means that many more people can now use transactional banking to make and receive payments as well as holding their money in a secure and accessible way. It is important that these gains are not lost and the Taskforce has called on Government, the banks and the FSA to ensure that the standards of service in bank branches are upheld and scrutinised. And we must not lose sight of the possibilities for making further inroads into the number of people who are unbanked."