Numbers Part Eight: the UK Banking sector

I popped into the British Banker's Association (BBA) last week and found that they publish a nice long list of statistics about our industry so, in yet another in the numbers series, here's the low-down on the UK banking sector. 

At the end of 2006, there were:

• over 325 banks in the UK;
• 161 UK banks; and
• 176 branches of foreign banks, representing 60 nationalities.

They  collectively operate:

• 130 million personal accounts;
• 10 million mortgages; and
• 8 million personal loans.

They hold

• 25% of all European assets; which is over
• £6.3 trillion of  assets; with
• £600 billion of foreign exchange passed through London every year.

Over 95% of the UK population has a bank account with

• £500 billion in total personal deposits; of which
• £150 billion is withdrawn annually; of which
• £2.5 billion of cash withdrawals are made each year;
• from over 30,000  ATMs;
• representing a total of 7 billion transactions a year.

Banking is the fastest growing business sector in the UK:

• employing over half a million people;
• indirectly creating jobs for over 4 million people;
• contributing £50 billion to the UK  economy;
• paying £9 billion a year in tax; which represents
• a quarter of all corporation tax in the UK; and
• contributing 10% of the UK's Gross Domestic Product.

And
large banks donate over £100 million a year to charities and community
initiatives, making them  one of the largest charity donors in the UK.
For example, the top 7 UK charity givers in 2003/04 were:

1. Glaxo Smith Kline
2. Royal Bank of Scotland
3. BP
4. HSBC
5. Barclays
6. Lloyds TSB
7. Northern Rock

... it just goes to prove why the British media love our banks so much!