Top 5 challenger banks

In the UK there is considered to be the ‘Big Five’ banks that dominate the market; HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Santander.

These banks have held a dominant position in the current account market for decades. According to Statistica the ‘Big Five’ held 84% of current accounts in the UK in 2014.

However, the period after the financial crash in 2008 has brought about an influx of challenger banks that aim to do banking in a different way.

Relying upon a customer first approach that is supported by the latest technologies, these challenger banks have sought to offer banking services in a modern way, to people that are always on the go and want greater ease of use and insight into their bank accounts.

CBR highlights five of the leading challenger banks that are revolutionising the banking industry.

1. Metro Bank

The first new high street bank to launch in the UK in over 150 years, Metro Bank is taking a new approach with a familiar flavour. Most of the challenger banks have opted

not to have brick and mortar faces but Metro has decided not to dispense with it.

The bank is open seven days a week and plans to have 200 UK branches open by 2020, it opened its 40^th in Maidstone Kent in December 2015.

It offers personal and business services and quotes a time of 15 minutes to open an account at one of its branches.

Now six years old it has amassed over 650,000 customer accounts. While that may only be scratching the surface of the “Big Five” it is certainly making progress.