Nearly one in four (24%) bank customers expect current account charging to be launched within two years, the study found.

The Competition and Markets Authority recently launched an investigation into personal current accounts aimed at increasing competition and account transparency and encouraging more consumers to switch.

However Consumer Intelligence’s research shows 25% of customers believe that there is little point in switching current accounts because most accounts are the same. Two-thirds (67%) of bank customers say they are happy with their current bank and 47% of customers say they have never switched bank.
David Black of Consumer Intelligence said: “Free in-credit banking has come to be regarded by many as virtually a birthright but it would appear that many customers are no longer as confident that it will survive. The threats of break-up and branch sell-offs as a result of the CMA investigation could trigger the end of free banking which ironically enough would be the biggest ever spur to switching.

“There have been a number of new entrants to the current account market in recent years such as M&S Bank, Metro Bank, Tesco Bank and Virgin Money. But the reality is that most people just don’t switch their current account.”

Consumer Intelligence research shows that only one in 20 customers have had their main current account for less than a year. However 54% of customers have been with the same bank for more than 10 years with 30% staying with the same bank for 20 years-plus.

Two thirds of customers (67%) said they would start looking for a new account if their bank started charging £5 a month or less.