Best and worst banks: Nationwide the big winner as customers ditch NatWest

Huge numbers of bank customers started 2024 by switching their current accounts.

That’s according to the latest figures from the Current Account Switch Service (CASS), which found that, between January and March, more than 320,000 people opted to move their accounts.

It's worth noting that the CASS figures only cover switches where the person's old bank account is closed.

So 'partial switches', where the customer chooses to keep their old account as well are not included, so the true total number of switchers will be higher.

While it's interesting to see that so many switched in the first quarter of the year, the really useful stats can be found by looking at the specific banks and building societies that gained and lost the most customers.

This data is provided by Pay UK, the retail payments authority.

As it takes a while to pull these together, the latest stats available are for the third quarter of 2023, running from 1 October to 31 December.

Here’s what these stats reveal, starting with the biggest winners.

The banks we are all switching to

The big winner, by a distance, was Nationwide: over the quarter it brought in 163,363 customers. 

Remarkably, it attracted more than 12 times the number of net customers than any other bank. 

It's also in stark contrast to the previous quarter, where the bank actually lost more than 16,000 customers.

So what drove such a dramatic turnaround?

During the most recent period it was offering new customers a huge £200 welcome bonus  – the largest such bonus around  – and clearly, plenty of people were happy to take advantage.

While that was probably the main driver, it's worth noting the bank has long had one of the best current accounts around, allowing you to earn 5% interest on your balances for the first year (you can see more high interest current accounts here).

The second biggest winner over the quarter was Barclays with 12.823 new customers, followed by Lloyds with 5,800 net new joiners. 

Remarkably, these are the only three banks to see their current account customer base increase over the quarter – we normally see anywhere between five and 10 banks growing over a three-month period. 

This might suggest that Nationwide was so remarkably successful at attracting switchers that almost every other bank lost out as a result.

The worst-performing banks

That means the vast majority of banks fell into the 'loser' category for this period with NatWest the biggest among them, losing a net 43,182 customers between January and March.

Remarkably, the bank was actually the biggest winner in the previous quarter, having offered the top switching incentive during that time.

This suggests that, although juicy joining bonuses are highly effective in attracting new customers, they don't offer any guarantee of actually maintaining customers long term. 

Looking elsewhere, Halifax saw the second-biggest net loss of customers over the quarter at 41,144.

Santander was third on the list with a loss of 34,581. Given that it was the biggest 'loser' in the previous quarter, it has been a tough six months for the banking giant's current account business.

Here’s how some of the worst-performing banks and building societies performed.

What matters to us?

It's clear that switching incentives continue to play a key role in the switching merry-go-round.

For example, we've seen banks go from near the top of the table all the way to the bottom after withdrawing a juicy offer.

Similarly, a juicy switching bonus often drives a bank up the charts.

Regardless, the common themes among the banks that consistently appear at the top of these switching tables every year are excellent account features and customer service.

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