Halifax, Starling and Virgin Money have come out top of the latest bank switch data, with all three lenders gaining more customers compared to rivals.
The banks saw the most switches between July and September this year, according to the Current Account Switch Service (CASS).
Halifax reported net gains of 16,684 accounts, while Starling was in second place and up 13,720 and Virgin Money gained 6,915.
Monzo Bank and Lloyds Bank were in fourth and fifth places with 5,707 and 3,875 net gains respectively.
At the opposite end of the table, HSBC recorded a net loss of 16,564 accounts, Santander was down 11,176 and TSB had a net loss of 9,491.
Some 212,600 switches took place in the third quarter of this year, up 29,855 compared to April to June.
The top reasons customers gave for preferring their new current accounts included: online banking facilities (52%), stronger customer service (42%) and ease of mobile or app-based banking systems (39%).
Favourable interest rates (23%) overtook location of branches (22%) as the fourth most cited reason in comparison with April to June this year.
Nearly three-quarters (73%) said they prefer their new current account, while only 2% said their new account is worse.
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David Piper, head of service lines at Pay.UK, owner and operator of the Current Account Switch Service, said: “The number of Current Account Switch Service users rose in Q3 as consumers continued to explore digital options and switching offers.
“The return of competitive incentives being offered by participating banks and building societies is a strong sign of confidence returning to the market.
“This growth is encouraging and as we look to the end of the year our focus remains on ensuring our service is widely available to those looking to switch accounts in a simple, reliable, and stress-free manner.”
Bank switch winners and losers
The following numbers take into account the total gains minus the total accounts lost to give an overall net gain, or net loss, figure.
- Halifax: 16,684
- Starling Bank: 13,720
- Virgin Money: 6,915
- Monzo Bank: 5,707
- Lloyds Bank: 3,875
- Nationwide: 3,601
- Bank of Scotland: 2,946
- Triodos Bank: 1,128
- The Co-operative Bank: 787
- Danske Bank: 190
- Ulster Bank: -140
- AIB Group (UK): -152
- Bank of Ireland: -501
- Tesco Bank: -1,043
- Barclays: -3,596
- RBS: -6,188
- NatWest: -7,451
- TSB: -9,491
- Santander: -11,176
- HSBC: -16,564
