Lloyds TSB is launching a debit card with its UK current accounts which automatically rounds up purchases to the nearest pound and sweeps the change into a savings account at the end of each day.

The scheme is called Save for Change and is a first for a UK bank. It is essentially the electronic equivalent of someone putting loose change in a jar or piggy bank.

The amounts could soon stack up as Lloyds TSB research shows that 29% of consumers with UK current accounts use their debit card more often than they were a year ago, with 36% using it for smaller purchases.

Terri Dial, group executive director at Lloyds TSB, said: “One in three British consumers say they want to save but it can be a real struggle.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to get into the savings habit and the beauty of Save the Change is that it won’t even feel like saving but, at the end of the year, customers will have a nice nest egg to build on for the future.”