This report looks at the following areas:
- Main drivers and dynamics within the current account market.
- Ownership of current accounts and the types of accounts owned.
- Where consumers hold their main and non-main current accounts.
- Current account activity over the last 12 months.
- General attitudes towards current accounts and current account providers.
The potential market for paid-for current accounts looks promising, but there remains a strong sense that there should always be a free current account option.
Brian O’Connor, Category Director – Irish Reports
Market Definitions
For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
The focus of this Report is on retail current accounts, including packaged accounts for mass-market customers. The Report does not cover premium or private bank accounts targeted at the mass affluent or high-net-worth customers.
The predominant type of pricing model for current accounts in NI is the free-if-in-credit (or ‘free banking’) model. This is where the customer does not pay any direct fees for having the account if in credit, or for core services such as direct debits and cheques. Interest is usually charged on any money borrowed via an overdraft, which can be either ‘authorised’ or ‘unauthorised’. In RoI, however, free banking is not generally available, with most accounts entailing either a monthly or quarterly maintenance fee.
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Executive Summary
- Opportunities
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Approaching 8 million active current accounts in Ireland in 2024
- Market size & forecast
- Market predictions
- Market size and forecast
- Graph 1: [no title]
- Decline in branch network across Ireland
- Consumers holding up relatively well despite cost-of-living pressures
- Strong activity in account switching in NI and opening/closing accounts in RoI
- More incentive for consumers to shift cash from current accounts to savings accounts
- Cost of overdrafts steady in RoI, but up significantly in NI
- What consumers want and why
- Almost every adult consumer has a personal current account
- Graph 2: ownership of personal current accounts, 2024
- Standard accounts make up the lion’s share of the sector
- Most account holders have their account(s) in their own name only
- Graph 3: type of ownership of personal current accounts, 2024
- Regular current accounts still dominate the market in NI and RoI
- Graph 4: types of current accounts that consumers have (including those held jointly with someone else), 2024
- No single dominant force in the NI main current account market
- Graph 5: where consumers have their main current account, 2024
- Just three banks control 81% of the main current account market in RoI
- Graph 6: where consumers have their main current account, 2024
- Most consumers made no changes to current account arrangements inthe last 12 months
- Less than one in ten have opened a new account
- Consumers trust banks generally, but want a free account option
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Market Dynamics
- Market size
- Approaching 8 million active current accounts in Ireland in 2024
- Graph 7: number of current accounts, actual and estimated, 2019-24
- Much of the increase in current accounts driven by growth in multi-account ownership
- Market forecast
- Graph 8: number of current accounts, estimated and projected, 2024-29
- Growth in the number of active accounts to slow in coming years
- Macro-economic factors
- Major diminishment of physical branch networks in RoI over last decade
- Graph 9: number of bank branches per 100,000 adult consumers, 2012-21
- Over 30% of NI’s branch network has gone since 2020
- Despite recent pressures, consumers’ finances are relatively robust
- Graph 10: how consumers would describe their own personal financial situation at the moment, 2024
- Current account switches in UK (incl NI) up 10% during 12 months ended June 2024
- Graph 11: total number of current account switches, H1 2024
- A better online or mobile banking platform is the single biggest reason for switching among UK (incl NI) consumers
- Graph 12: reasons for switching current account, 2024
- Almost 200,000 more current accounts opened in RoI between January 2022 and June 2023
- Graph 13: current accounts opened vs those closed, 2022-23
- Ulster Bank performing strongly in switches, but two of the other three NI-based banks losing customers
- Returns on savings starting to recover for RoI consumers
- Graph 14: average interest rate on deposits, households, with agreed maturity, 2018-24
- NI consumers can earn 5% on savings, but perhaps not for much longer
- Graph 15: average interest rate on instant access deposits, 2020-24*
- Interest rates on overdrafts up dramatically in UK (incl NI) since 2020
- Graph 16: average cost of overdraft, 2020-24*
- Volume of overdraft borrowing in RoI up 20+% over the last five years
- Graph 17: total value of overdrafts, 2015-24
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What Consumers Want and Why
- Ownership of current accounts
- Close to universal ownership of current accounts
- Graph 18: ownership of personal current accounts, 2024
- Multiple account ownership increasing year-on-year
- Graph 19: ownership of personal current accounts, by number, 2024
- Younger consumers most likely to have two or more current accounts
- Graph 20: consumers who own two or more personal current accounts, by age, 2024
- Tendency for ABC1s and higher earners to have multiple accounts
- Graph 21: consumers who own two or more personal current accounts, by social class and household income, 2024
- Three quarters have accounts in own name only
- Graph 22: whether consumers’ current account are held in their own name, jointly or both, 2024
- Younger consumers have accounts in their own name only
- Graph 23: consumers who have accounts in own name only, by age, 2024
- Consumers with children are least likely to have accounts only in their own name
- Graph 24: consumers who have accounts in their own name only, by whether they have children or not, 2024
- Around 1 in 4 consumers aged 55+ have joint accounts
- Graph 25: ownership of a joint current account, by age group, 2024
- Type of current accounts held
- Majority sticking with standard current accounts
- Graph 26: yypes of current accounts that consumers have (including those held jointly with someone else), 2024
- Only marginal change in the proportion paying for accounts over the last year
- Where current accounts are held
- Five major providers dominate the main current account market in NI
- Graph 27: where consumers have their main current account, 2024
- Digital-only, challenger banks becoming established in non-main current account market in NI
- Graph 28: where consumers have their non-main current account, 2024
- Distinct lack of competition in RoI current account market
- Graph 29: where consumers have their main current account, 2024
- Revolut now the leading provider of non-main current accounts in RoI
- Graph 30: where consumers have their non-main current account, 2024
- Current account activity
- Just under 1 in 10 opened a new account with a new provider out of choice
- Graph 31: actions relating to current accounts that consumers have taken in the last 12 months, 2024
- Number of consumers forced to switch providers is down in RoI but up in NI
- Graph 32: consumers who opened a new current account with a different provider due to old provider closing down in the last 12 months, 2023-24
- Decline in number of consumers switching account provider for other reasons
- Graph 33: consumers who opened a new current account with a different provider due to another reason in the last 12 months, 2023-24
- Attitudes towards current accounts and current account providers
- Consumers generally trust banks, but dislike fees and charges, and still want the option of a physical branch network
- A strong majority feel there should be a free option
- Graph 34: agreement that current account providers should always offer a free current account option, by age, 2024
- Attachment to physical branches extends across all ages
- Graph 35: agreement that a physical bank branch is essential, by age, 2024
- Younger consumers are more confident banking with an online-only provider
- Graph 36: consumer interest in an online-only bank, by age, 2024
- High level of trust in banks’ capacity to safeguard personal data
- Younger consumers may be attracted by plastic-free accounts
- Graph 37: consumers who use mobile payments (eg Google Pay, Apple Pay) linked to their main current account more than they use their debit card, by age, 2024
- Younger consumers would welcome help coping with cost-of-living pressures
- Graph 38: agreement that ‘the rising cost of living has caused me to use my overdraft more in the last 12 months’, 2024
- Harder to convince older consumers and women to switch accounts
- Graph 39: consumers who plan to switch their main current account to a new provider in the next 12 months, 2024
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Competitive landscape
- Companies and brands
- Allied Irish Bank – key facts
- Allied Irish Bank – product portfolio – NI
- Allied Irish Bank – product portfolio – RoI
- Allied Irish Bank – recent developments
- An Post – key facts
- An Post – product portfolio
- An Post – recent developments
- Bank of Ireland – key facts
- Bank of Ireland – product portfolio (RoI)
- Bank of Ireland – product portfolio (RoI) (continued)
- Bank of Ireland – product portfolio (NI)
- Bank of Ireland – product portfolio (NI) (continued)
- Bank of Ireland – recent developments
- Danske Bank – key facts
- Danske Bank – product portfolio
- Danske Bank – recent developments
- EBS – key facts
- EBS – product portfolio
- EBS – recent developments
- Halifax – key facts
- Halifax – product portfolio
- Halifax – product portfolio (continued)
- Halifax – recent developments
- HSBC – key facts
- HSBC – product portfolio
- HSBC – recent developments
- Nationwide – key facts
- Nationwide – product portfolio
- Nationwide – product portfolio (continued)
- Nationwide – recent developments
- PTSB – key facts
- PTSB – product portfolio
- PTSB – recent developments
- Santander – key facts
- Santander – product portfolio
- Santander – product portfolio (continued)
- Santander – recent developments
- Ulster Bank – key facts
- Ulster Bank – product portfolio
- Ulster Bank – recent developments
- DubCo – key facts
- DubCo – product portfolio
- DubCo – recent developments
- Irish League of Credit Unions – key facts
- Irish League of Credit Unions – product Portfolio
- Irish League of Credit Unions – recent developments
- Revolut – key facts
- Revolut – product portfolio
- Revolut – product portfolio (continued)
- Revolut – recent developments
- Monzo – key facts
- Monzo – product portfolio
- Monzo – Recent developments
- Chase Bank – key facts
- Chase Bank – product portfolio
- Chase Bank – recent developments
- Starling – key facts
- Starling – product portfolio
- Starling – recent developments
- N26 – key facts
- N26 – product portfolio
- N26 – recent developments
- Launch activity and innovation
- Bankinter marks a change for the Irish market
- Banking in the biometric age
- Revolut teams up with Aer Lingus
- Atoa collects lots of seed funding to rival big players
- Revolut shakes up Irish savings
- Graph 40: respondents who would be interested in an online-only bank, 2024
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Appendix
- Supplementary data
- Market size and forecast: underlying data
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Abbreviations and terms
- Methodology
- Consumer research methodology
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