Dulles, VA February 26, 2024 – The following provides a brief overview of banking app users in the United Kingdom.

Monthly active users

  • Looking at the top 10 mobile banking apps for monthly active users, Halifax makes the top spot with 7.2mn users, followed by Nationwide (6.1mn) and Barclays (6mn). At the bottom end of the top 10 are HSBC, Chase, and TSB Mobile Banking with 3.8mn, 3.7mn and 2.7mn users respectively.
  • Not all household names make the top 10 with Royal Bank of Scotland and Virgin Money’s apps seeing 1.6mn monthly active users in January 2024.
  • When looking at digital-only banks, Monzo currently has around 4.2mn monthly active users in the UK, making it the 7th most popular mobile banking app and most popular digital-only bank. Starling has 2.4mn monthly active users.
  • However, Monzo’s monthly user numbers have fallen 10% year-on-year. This fall coincides with the rapid rise of Chase which has seen its user numbers rise 9% to 3.7mn as of January 2024.

Demographic breakdowns

  • Monzo and Starling Bank have a much younger user base than other mobile banking apps, with 44% and 39% of users aged between 18 and 34 respectively.
  • In contrast, Halifax, the UK’s most popular mobile banking app, has only 24% of its users under the age of 34.
  • Virgin Money and first direct bank have the highest proportion of older users aged 45 and above at 73% and 72% respectively. This is followed by Nationwide at 63%.
  • Barclays and Lloyds Bank exhibit a more balanced age distribution, with at least 20% of users in each age bracket. 

Using multiple banks

  • At least 30% of bank app users are using multiple banking apps as of February 2024.
  • Virgin Money boasts the most loyal customer base with only about 31% of its users also on other apps, followed by NatWest (35%) and Barclays (36%).
  • The top 5 UK banks with the most overlap are Chase UK (70%), first direct (59%), Monzo (54%), Starling Bank (53%) and TSB (51%).

Comment from Dr. Paul Carter, CEO, GWS: “Monzo and Starling Bank’s popularity among younger users shows their commitment to offering features tailored to the mobile-first generation, including intuitive budgeting tools and innovative payment options. However, despite the rise of digital banks, many users still maintain accounts with traditional high street banks, indicating a desire for a balance between modern mobile banking and traditional services. This fierce competition highlights the importance of providing seamless mobile experiences to capture market share and cultivate customer loyalty in today’s fast-paced, on-the-go world. While the high street banks will be looking to learn from Monzo’s success with younger users by prioritizing a dynamic user-interface in a similar way, digital banks will be looking to build the trust and certainty that the traditional players are perceived to offer.”

Note: App engagement data was generated using Magnify, GWS’s mobile intelligence data platform. Magnify is comprised of key insights collected from consumers participating in our market research programs in the United States and United Kingdom. These are real-life consumers who use their mobile devices as normal throughout the day, so that the analytics data GWS gathers provides the most accurate picture of both the U.S. and U.K. mobile connectivity experience. In particular, data is anonymously collected from Android smartphones 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whenever and wherever the consumers use their devices. Data is reported in aggregate for market research purposes only. All information collected is weighted to a user’s demographic representation of each country’s adult population.

About GWS 

For most consumers today, their mobile device is their life’s remote control. As an independent mobile insights consulting firm, GWS measures every aspect of how people live, work and play via their mobile devices – as well as how mobile network performance affects them. 

Combining our market-leading network benchmarking technology and methodology with deep behavioral data, we help businesses and organizations to drive innovation and deliver better customer experiences through mobile insights, anywhere in the world. Championing the needs of mobile users by understanding and testing the things that matter to them, we’ve evolved our technology and services in step with the needs of industry and consumers for over 27 years. 

GWS Media Contact 
Adam Hudson
[email protected]