Banking statistics UK: Biggest banks by market share and customers

Discover the biggest banks in the UK, as well as how often Brits change banks.

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By

Matthew Boyle

Updated

Fact checked

The UK banking sector is the largest in Europe and one of the most prominent globally. 97% of the UK population have a day-to-day bank account, making them an inevitable part of our everyday life. 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, their opinions on well-established banks and digital banks as well as the most common reasons why users feel negative about their bank.

Overview

  • HSBC has the largest market share of UK banks, at £125.5 billion in August 2023.
  • The market share of the largest bank, HSBC, is over 4.5 times bigger than Lloyds, the second largest bank.
  • Barclays was the UK bank with the most customers in 2022 at 48 million.
  • Starling Bank is the bank with the highest customer satisfaction rate at 94%.
  • 61% of Brits said they have switched banks at some point in their life, meaning 39% have never switched.
  • More than half (52%) of high street bank customers have felt negatively towards their provider.
  • Over a quarter of Brits (26%) switch banks every three to five years.
  • Generation Z is the most likely generation to switch, with 57% switching their main account within two years of turning 18.
  • A fifth of consumers stay with their bank for up to 20 years.

What are the biggest banks in the UK by market share?

HSBC has the largest market share of UK banks by far, at approximately £125.5 billion in August 2023. This is more than 4.5 times larger than Lloyds, which has the second-largest market share at £27.4 billion. Barclays is in third place with £22.8 billion, followed closely by Natwest (£21.2 billion) and Standard Chartered Bank (£20.8 billion).

Bank Market cap (£)
HSBC 125.5
Lloyds 27.42
Barclays PLC 22.82
NatWest Group 21.18
Standard Chartered 20.76

Which UK bank has the most customers?

Barclays was the UK bank with the most customers in 2022, with 48 million people choosing to bank here. HSBC comes in second place with 39 million customers, while Lloyds is in third place with 26 million customers.

Bank Customers (in millions)
Barclays 48
HSBC 39
Lloyds 26
Natwest 19
Nationwide 16.3
However, the banks with the highest customer numbers don’t necessarily have the highest satisfaction. In the 2023 Finder Banking Customer Satisfaction Awards, Starling Bank had the highest customer satisfaction score at 94%.

Nationwide, which was in fifth place for customer numbers, had the second-highest customer satisfaction rate, and approximately 90% of their 16.3 million customers are satisfied with their current accounts.

Lloyds was in third place for customer numbers in 2022, with a total of 26 million customers, but they were in fourth place for customer satisfaction, with a rate of 88%.

As well as Starling Bank, other challenger digital banks scored well for customer satisfaction despite having lower customer numbers. This includes Revolut, which had a satisfaction rate of 89%, and Monzo, which had a satisfaction score of 86%.

Bank Current account customer satisfaction
Starling Bank 94%
Nationwide 90%
Revolut 89%
Lloyds Bank 88%
Monzo 86%
As of March 2023, Barclays was the bank which the highest number of people (15%) had their primary account with. HSBC and Lloyds came in a close second, with 12% of people each claiming that one of these was their primary bank.

Some of the least popular primary banks were Starling Bank, Yorkshire Bank and the Co-op Bank, as only 1% say that they use these as their primary bank.

Bank % of people who use it as their primary bank
Barclays 15%
HSBC 12%
Lloyds 12%
Halifax 11%
Natwest 9%
Santander 9%
Nationwide 8%
Bank of Scotland 5%
Monzo 3%
Royal Bank of Scotland 3%
Clydesdale 1%
Starling bank 1%
Co-op bank 1%
Yorkshire bank 1%
No bank account 1%
Other 8%

Brand value of UK banks

In 2023, HSBC had the highest brand value among banks of over £15 billion, but this is a 27% decrease from 2015 when its brand value was over £21 billion. Barclays has also had a decrease in its brand value, going from £11.1 billion in 2015 to £9.7 billion in 2023, a 12.7% drop.

The brand value of both Standard Chartered Bank and Natwest has grown over time. Natwest had an impressive increase in brand value of 92.4% between 2015 to 2023 and, as of 2023, it is currently valued at £5.8 billion.

In 2015, Standard Chartered had a brand value of a little over £4 billion, but after a 66% increase, the bank had a brand value of £6.7 billion in 2023.

Bank Brand value
HSBC 15.57
Barclays 9.712
Standard Chartered 6.731
Natwest 5.805
Lloyds 5.217

UK banks by total asset value

The bank with the largest amount of assets in 2022 was HSBC, with £2.45 trillion in assets. This is an 8% decrease from 2012 when HSBC had £2.69 trillion in assets. Barclays had £1.51 trillion worth of assets in 2022, the same as in 2012.

Both Lloyds and Natwest saw a decrease in their assets from 2012 to 2022. Natwest had a 45% decrease from £1.31 trillion in 2012 to £0.72 trillion in 2022. Lloyds saw a much smaller decrease of 5%, as their assets in 2012 were £0.93 trillion, but are now £0.88 trillion.

Year HSBC Holdings Barclays Lloyds Banking Group Natwest Group Standard Chartered
2012 2.69 1.51 0.93 1.31 0.63
2013 2.67 1.34 0.84 1.02 0.67
2014 2.63 1.35 0.85 1.05 0.73
2015 2.55 1.24 0.82 0.88 0.69
2016 2.37 1.49 1 0.98 0.65
2017 2.1 1.28 0.91 0.83 0.55
2018 2.01 0.88 0.8 0.69 0.54
2019 2.05 1.14 0.83 0.72 0.54
2020 2.18 1.35 0.87 0.8 0.58
2021 2.2 1.34 0.89 0.78 0.61
2022 2.45 1.51 0.88 0.72 0.68

Switching bank accounts: The latest statistics

According to our 2020 survey, 61% of Brits said they have switched banks at some point in their life. Out of those switching, 44% switch at least once every five years. The most common (26%) switching period was every three to five years. However, some consumers stay loyal to their banks for far longer, with a fifth of consumers staying with their bank for up to 20 years.

Of the 61% who said they do switch banks, we analysed their survey responses to reveal a breakdown of how frequently they switch. Find the breakdown of those figures in the data visualisation and table below.

How often do Brits switch banks? Percentage
More than once a year 4.15%
Once every 1–2 years 13.70%
Once every 3–5 years 25.66%
Once every 6–9 years 18.69%
Once every 10–19 years 18.11%
Once every 20+ years 19.68%

Generational differences: Younger generations are switching banks more often

Generation Z is the least likely generation so far to stick with the same bank, according to a Finder survey in 2020.

We found that 57% of gen Z adults switched their main account within two years of turning 18. By comparison, only 26% of millennials and 19% of generation X moved bank within two years of turning 18. The generation most likely to stick with their banks early into adulthood were baby boomers, with only 16% moving banks in the two years after they turned 18.

How many adults switched their main account within two years of turning 18?
How many adults switched their main account within two years of turning 18? Percentage
Gen Z 57%
Millennials 26%
Gen X 19%
Baby boomers 16%

Customer opinions of banks

Customer sentiment towards 10 of the UK’s biggest high-street and digital-only banks fell by 7 percentage points (pp) during lockdown, according to our research with social analytics specialist BrandsEye.

This leaves overall consumer sentiment for the banking industry at -24% on a possible scale of +100% to -100% for the period between 1 March and 31 July 2020.

However, over 800,000 social media posts from customers revealed that digital banks saw a sentiment decline of almost three times that of high-street banks during the pandemic. On average digital-only banks’ customer sentiment fell by 14 percentage points compared to just 5 percentage points for high-street banks.

While this is a blow for digital-only banks, it should be noted that high-street banks had, and continue to have, a much lower overall sentiment (-13% vs -35% currently).

To find out more about digital banking in the UK, explore the latest digital banking statistics here

Reasons high-street bank users feel negative about their bank

According to our research in 2020, more than half (52%) the customers of high-street banks felt negatively towards their provider. For the high-street bank customers, the main reasons for feeling negative about their bank were savings rates (29%) and customer service over the phone (14%), in-branch (14%) and digitally (11%).

Most common customer complaints for high-street banks Percentage
The savings rates 29%
Customer service (phone) 14%
Customer service (in branch) 14%
Customer service (digital) 11%
The communication 11%
The overdraft 10%
The app 9%
The website 9%
The security of your money 8%
The loans 7%
Other 3%

Sources

  • Finder.com
  • Current Account Switch Service
  • Statista
  • YouGov
  • Save the Student
  • Financial Times

Methodology

  • Finder commissioned Onepoll to carry out a nationally representative survey of adults aged 18+.
  • A total of 2,000 people were questioned throughout Great Britain, with representative quotas for gender, age and region.

For all media enquiries, please contact

Matt Mckenna
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806
matt.mckenna@finder.com@MichHutchison/in/matthewmckenna2

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