More UK banking stats

Following on from yesterday's number - UK Bank Stats: a fascinating portrait of
life -I was sent another report today from TheCityUK, the trade body that promotes the interests of the City of London.There’s loads of numbers in this document that are useful, which I will post in a few separate blog entries starting with the payments and retail banking figures.

According to the latest figures:

• 95%+of adults in Britain have at least one bank account
• 98% of people live in a household where someone has an account.

These are among the highest levels in Europe largely due to the ‘basic bank accounts’ launched in 2003, which allow people who do not want a conventional bank account to receive money, pay bills and withdraw cash through post offices.

There are 10,500 bank branches and 64,000 ATMs – more per million people than in France, Germany and Italy.

Bank customers increasingly use their accounts without visiting a branch:

• 59 million people live in Britain, of which 46.9 million are over 16 years of age
• 46 million customers have registered for telephone banking
• 33 million for online banking
• 4 out of 10 adults used remote banking to make payments in 2008

Method of payment (2008)     Transactions (millions)     Transaction value (£ billion)
Cash                                                  22,569                                   267
Cheque                                                1,343                                1,421
Debit card                                            5,384                                   241
Credit card                                           2,041                                   142
Direct debit                                          3,077                                   935

In 2008, 94% of adults had at least one of the 169 million cards issued by banks and building societies, which included:

• 76 million debit cards,
• 66 million credit cards, and
• 6.4 million charge cards.

Cards have helped the growth of internet retailing, with more than 32 million adults buying £41 billion of goods and services over the internet in 2008.

Cards have also made international travel easier by allowing holders to spend £19 billion outside the UK in that year and to withdraw £7.9 billion in cash.

More than three and a half million small businesses in the UK have bank accounts, depositing over £50 billion with their banks and credit facilities worth a similar amount.