Digital banking statistics 2022

How many Brits have a digital-only bank account in 2022?

Updated Feb 10, 2022. What changed?

Fact checked

Digital banks (such as Monzo, Revolut and Starling Bank) offer simple, fee-free services for people wanting to track their spending immediately from their digital device. Our data shows that people really value good digital services from their bank, which helps explain the consistent increase in online banking use over the last 10 years. We looked for the latest stats on digital banking in the UK, along with carrying out our own research on how people are using their accounts and their future intentions when it comes to banking.

The latest stats

As of January 2022, over a quarter (27%) of British adults have opened an account with a digital-only bank, equating to 14 million people. This figure has not changed from 2021.
10% of British adults intend to open an account with a digital-only bank by the end of 2022, meaning the end of the year could see the number of Brits with a digital-only bank rise to 19 million (36%).
In 2022, an estimated 93% of the UK adult population will be using some form of online banking.
According to Barclay, 88.6% of eligible payments in 2020 were contactless.
As of 2020, as many as 1.9 billion individuals worldwide actively used online banking services.
This number is forecast to reach 2.5 billion by 2024.
51% of adults aged 25 to 34 have a positive attitude towards a cashless society.

What do Brits think their primary banks are good at?

In 2020, digital banking services were rated as the second-best feature of people’s primary banks. Do people, therefore, consider digital services to be a critical component of their financial provider? A range of digital services ranked as the second-most important feature among respondents, just behind security. A range of digital services also received almost double the popularity that a range of financial products did.

Map
Table

Service	Features that are most valued
Security	40%
Range of digital services (app, online banking, etc)	39%
Personal service (including telephone, email)	26%
Quality of advice	25%
Range of financial products and insurance offers	21%
Range of payment options	21%
Transparency	21%
Free-of-charge cash, also abroad	20%
Terms and conditions for keeping an account	20%
Lending conditions	9%
None of the above	7%
Don't know	11%

Online banking popularity

Online banking popularity has increased steadily between 2007 and 2020, with 4 in 5 Brits using online banking in 2020. Since 2005, online banking has experienced year-on-year growth every single year and has reached a peak of 80% in 2020 – meaning 4 out of 5 Brits are using online banking. As the level of online banking increases, it may be seen as an indicator that Brits would be more willing to use digital-only banks as they become more used to banking online and on their mobile phones.

Graph
Table

Year	Online banking pentration
2005	27%
2006	28%
2007	32%
2008	38%
2009	45%
2010	45%
2011	50%
2012	52%
2013	54%
2014	57%
2015	58%
2016	64%
2017	68%
2018	74%
2019	78%
2020	80%
2021	86%
2022*	93%

Number of active online banking users worldwide

The usage of online and mobile banking could increase significantly across the globe within the next two years. Data shows that the Asian market could see the largest adoption growth rate, with this region already accounting for over 800 million active online banking users. It is estimated that this figure will reach nearly one billion by 2024. By 2024, Europe could also see 435 million people using online and mobile banking in some form, a stealthy jump from the 398 million who use it in 2022.

Graph
Table

	Far East & China	North America	Europe	Latin America	Rest of the world
2020	805.1 million	240.1 million	361.7 million	109 million	387.3 million
2021	844.4 million	250.5 million	379.9 million	126.4 million	441.8 million
2022	885.6 million	261.4 million	398.1 million	146.7 million	504.9 million
2023	928.9 million	272.7 million	416.4 million	170.4 million	578.5 million
2024	974.3 million	279.6 million	435 million	198 million	664.9 million

High-street vs digital banking

Back in Q3 and Q4 of 2019, HSBC gained 47,777 and then 46,118 customers – the highest increase in customer base of all the banks in our list. In fact, until 2020 Q2 at the height of the pandemic, HSBC remained the only bank gaining the most customers, having gained 74,563 customers at the time. In Q3 of 2020 they were knocked off the top spot by Nationwide who led the list with a gain of 16,353 customers. 2020 Q4 saw Halifix eventually make the highest customer gain – with over 33 thousand new customers added to their roster.

In 2021, HSBC dominated the top spot for the most part, with Lloyds Bank leading only in Q1. By the end of 2021 (early Jan 2022) HSBC and Nationwide were in first and second place, having gained 45,310 and 44,612.

Graph
Table

	2019 Q3	2019 Q4	2020 Q1	2020 Q2	2020 Q3	2020 Q4	2021 Q1	2021 Q2	2021 Q3	2021 Q4
AIB Group	49	39	23	43	16	44	35	42	101	56
Bank of Ireland	94	83	104	63	36	57	49	33	39	63
Bank of Scotland	3,795	3,767	3,349	3,579	1,601	2513	3,127	2,974	4519	3,909
Barclays	9,590	16,976	18,021	8,818	3,044	5572	4,843	4,812	6457	7,620
Co-operative	1,588	1,473	1,447	2,769	1,778	1803	2,675	2,333	4252	1,600
Danske	382	299	308	292	86	151	177	165	452	496
Halifax	17,352	9,377	8,293	7,841	3,383	33327	6,673	7,392	25847	10,537
HSBC	47,477	46,118	44,321	74,563	12,171	5998	22,847	23,892	50192	45,310
Lloyds Bank	11,815	12,359	36,219	12,049	5,230	18081	41,514	9,576	13483	16,656
Monzo	14,563	22,841	23,721	22,096	12,788	12451	10,858	10,480	8759	9,936
Nationwide	41,284	40,562	36,558	43,883	16,353	9670	8,571	10,264	13498	44,612
NatWest	40,717	13,927	35,998	43,581	12,350	5904	30,125	5,667	6645	7,579
RBS	7,695	9,373	7,137	4,047	2,925	3476	9,557	1,373	1602	2,474
Santander	20,799	21,336	15,202	12,030	4,962	11018	6,393	5,895	7970	23,632
Starling Bank	7,527	7,966	10,765	16,872	12,786	14148	17,756	18,874	15185	17,309
Tesco Bank	678	556	455	116	116	55	62	62	65	53
Triodos Bank	402	455	585	550	441	736	1,116	1,210	1209	916
TSB	7,270	8,164	7,473	13,119	2,656	3512	3,774	5,093	3278	3,127
Ulster Bank	1,112	391	1,934	968	198	337	687	195	257	375

Can't get enough information about digital banking?

- Digital banking adoption

For more digital banking information, check out our banking adoption statistics page. Finder conducted a digital banking adoption survey to get a feel of what the British public thinks.

Sources used

Statista
Eurostat
Current Account Switch Service (CASS)
Barclaycard

The latest stats

According to our survey:

Over a quarter (27%) of British adults have opened an account with a digital-only bank, equating to 14 million people (2021).
This means 3 times more Brits have a digital bank than in January 2019 (9%).
By the end 2021, 38% of Brits either will have or intend to have a digital-only bank – equal to almost 20 million Brits.
4 in 5 (80%) use some form of online banking in the UK.
Just over 1 in 10 Brits (12%) have fully switched to a digital-only bank.
Nearly half (47%) of those who use them keep less than £1,000 in a digital bank, in 2019.
Two-thirds of banking customers say they plan to convert fully to a digital bank in the future.

What do Brits think their primary banks are good at?

Service	Percentage of people
Security	40%
Range of digital services (app, online banking, etc)	39%
Personal service (including telephone, email)	26%
Quality of advice	25%
Range of financial products and insurance offers	21%
Range of payment options	21%
Transparency	21%
Free-of-charge cash, also abroad	20%
Terms and conditions for keeping an account	20%
Lending conditions	9%
None of the above	7%
Don't know	11%

A range of digital services ranked as the second-most important feature among respondents, just behind security. A range of digital services also received almost double the popularity that a range of financial products did.

Online banking popularity

Online banking popularity has increased steadily between 2007 and 2020, with 4 in 5 Brits now using online banking in 2020.

The percentage of Brits that use online banking

Graph
Table

Year	Online banking pentration
2020	80%
2019	78%
2018	74%
2017	68%
2016	64%
2015	58%
2014	57%
2013	54%
2012	52%
2011	:
2010	45%
2009	45%
2008	38%
2007	32%
2006	28%
2005	27%

Since 2005, online banking has experienced year-on-year growth every single year and has reached a peak of 80% in 2020 – meaning 4 out of 5 Brits are using online banking. As the level of online banking increases, it may be seen as an indicator that Brits would be more willing to use digital-only banks as they become more used to banking online and on their mobile phones.

The most popular disruptor banks around the world

We looked at some of the latest statistics to see which disruptor bank is the most popular in the UK.

Total number of app downloads

The most popular disruptor bank in the UK by app downloads in 2020 is Monzo, with over 4.4 million downloads. This is nearly 2 million downloads more than the next biggest challenger bank by app downloads, Revolut, which has 2.5 million app downloads. Starling Bank has had 2.2 million app downloads and Monese has had over 1 million downloads.

Graph
Table

Bank	Number of downloads (UK)
Monzo	4,427,749
Revolut	2,470,601
Starling Bank	2,172,972
Monese	1,029,375

High-street vs digital banking

Looking at 2020’s third quarter (1 July to 30 September), Starling Bank and Monzo made net gains of 12,652 and 9,157 customers respectively, while Barclays, HSBC, NatWest and Santander all made net losses.

Halifax had the highest overall increase in customers, with a net gain of 22,742 customers. However, Halifax was offering a switch deal during this period and was the only high-street bank to make considerable gains.

The data shows a 65% drop in total switches during lockdown vs the first 3 months of 2020, which reflects a decline in the number of switching incentives while banks seemed to focus on their existing customers.

Brand	Gains	Losses	Net gains
Halifax	33,327	10,585	22,742
Starling Bank	14,148	1,496	12,652
Monzo Bank	12,451	3,294	9,157
Lloyds Bank	18,081	9,746	8,335
Bank of Scotland	2,513	1,846	667
Triodos Bank	736	70	666
Ulster Bank	337	398	-61
Danske	151	302	-151
AIB Group (UK)	44	304	-260
Bank of Ireland	57	331	-274
Clydesdale Bank	3,296	3,622	-326
Nationwide	9,670	10,598	-928
Co-operative	1,803	3,433	-1,630
Tesco Bank	55	2004	-1,949
Barclays	5,572	9,067	-3,495
RBS	3,476	7,171	-3,695
TSB	3,512	8,517	-5,005
NatWest	5,904	15,621	-9,717
Santander	11,018	21,047	-10,029

Consumer opinions over the COVID-19 pandemic

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 new research from finder.com and 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.

However, over 800,000 social media posts from customers revealed that digital banks saw a sentiment decline of almost 3 times that of high-street banks during the pandemic. On average digital-only banks’ customer sentiment fell by 14pp compared to just 5pp 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%).

Graph
Table

	Sentiment pre-lockdown	Sentiment post-lockdown	Percentage point difference
Atom	11.2%	9.2%	2.00%
Starling	12.4%	-1.4%	-13.80%
Monzo	1.6%	-2.3%	-3.90%
Monese	0.1%	-19.3%	-19.40%
Revolut	-18.0%	-29.3%	-11.30%
HSBC	-30.9%	-29.9%	1.00%
Lloyds	-35.9%	-32.6%	3.30%
Santander	-21.3%	-33.1%	-11.80%
Natwest	-40.0%	-37.0%	3.00%
Barclays	-21.8%	-41.5%	-19.70%

Common digital bank customer complaints

53% of digital bank customers felt negatively about their provider during the lockdown, with savings rates being the main problem (21%).

Customers’ main method of interacting with their digital-only bank is through an app, so this is perhaps why customers’ second biggest issue was around their bank’s app (15%).

Poor customer service appeared to be a running theme with 14% of digital-only banks’ customers complaining about the level of customer service they received over the phone and digitally.

Contactless payment

The contactless payment limit in the UK has increased to £100, from being at £45 since March 2020 and previously at £30. By increasing the limit and encouraging consumers to use this payment method, we looked into how this will affect digital banking.

Contactless adoption

Contactless payment adoption was considerably accelerated as a result of the pandemic, with businesses urging consumers to pay through this method. According to data from Barclaycard, 88.6% of total card payments in 2020 were by contactless, 7% more in 2019. However, through being encouraged by businesses and the government, UK supermarkets saw a 29% increase in customers using contactless.

Graph
Table

Total card payments	Percentage
Contactless	88.60%
Other payment methods	11.40%

Contactless transaction value

The value of transactions made by using contactless cards has seen a gradual increase since 2015. From April 2015 to May 2021, the value of transactions in the UK by contactless has increased by over 2,900%. This is a considerable increase and shows how contactless is steadily becoming a primary method for payment in the UK. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly all financial operations, and this is once again a byproduct of the pandemic, where contactless is deemed a safer payment method.

Graph
Table

Month	Value of transactions using contactless cards (£ million)
Apr 2015	454.5
May 2015	515.9
Jun 2015	567.1
Jul 2015	619.8
Aug 2015	633.8
Sep 2015	758.6
Oct 2015	929.8
Nov 2015	1,024
Dec 2015	1,201
Jan 2016	1,107.3
Feb 2016	1,318.3
Mar 2016	1,508.4
Apr 2016	1,580.3
May 2016	1,873.9
Jun 2016	1,882.8
Jul 2016	2,105.6
Aug 2016	2,339
Sep 2016	2,423.4
Oct 2016	2,801.3
Nov 2016	2,903.2
Dec 2016	3,370.6
Jan 2017	3,186.2
Feb 2017	3,343.9
Mar 2017	4,009.2
Apr 2017	3,913.3
May 2017	4,452.9
Jun 2017	4,335.5
Dec 2017	5,279
Jan 2018	5,002
Feb 2018	4,928
Mar 2018	5,166
Apr 2018	5,560
May 2018	5,699
Jun 2018	5,585
Jul 2018	6,104
Aug 2018	5,975
Sep 2018	5,699
Oct 2018	6,351
Nov 2018	6,194
Dec 2018	6,775
Jan 2019	5,907
Feb 2019	5,904
Mar 2019	6,372
Apr 2019	6,788
May 2019	6,678
Jun 2019	6,381
Jul 2019	7,201
Aug 2019	6,914
Sep 2019	6,968
Oct 2019	7,037
Nov 2019	6,917
Dec 2019	7,396
Jan 2020	8,271
Feb 2020	8,374
Mar 2020	7,987
Apr 2020	5,042
May 2020	7,116
Jun 2020	8,536
Jul 2020	10,833
Aug 2020	11,764
Sep 2020	11,488
Oct 2020	12,006
Nov 2020	9,939
Dec 2020	12,179
Jan 2021	8,038
Feb 2021	8,271
Mar 2021	10,361
Apr 2021	11,982
May 2021	13,652

Can't get enough information about digital banking?

- Digital banking adoption

For more digital banking information, check out our banking adoption statistics page. Finder conducted a digital banking adoption survey to get a feel of what the British public thinks.

- Digital bank usage

Almost half (47%) of Brits are keeping £1,000 or less in their digital-only bank accounts with 3 in 10 (30%) holding less than £100 in their accounts. Across all accounts, the average amount held is £3,214. What other trends can we see in Brits’ digital bank usage?

Sources used

Statista
Eurostat
Current Account Switch Service (CASS)
Barclaycard
Cyber Crew

Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact:

Matt Mckenna
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806

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Charlie Barton

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Charlie Barton is a publisher at Finder. He specialises in banking and investments products, including banking apps, current accounts, share-dealing platforms and stocks and shares ISAs. Charlie has a first-class degree from the London School of Economics, and in his spare time enjoys long walks on the beach.

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Digital banking statistics 2022

How many Brits have a digital-only bank account in 2022?

In this guide

Research

The latest stats

What do Brits think their primary banks are good at?

Online banking popularity

Number of active online banking users worldwide

High-street vs digital banking

Can't get enough information about digital banking?

Sources used

Digital banking statistics - 2021

Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact:

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Charlie Barton

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