Starling Bank had the largest net account switching gain in the second quarter of 2020, followed by fellow digital challenger Monzo.

Nationwide, NatWest and Triodos Bank rounded out the top five, as reported by the Current Account Switch Service, although participant data is collected three months in arrears.

There was a big quarterly jump in consumers changing banks, according to its latest stats. While there was a reduction in consumer activity between April and June, the latest data showed a lot more switching took place between July and September.

In total, 136,575 switches took place in the third quarter, a significant rise of 38,383 compared to switches in the second quarter.

Monthly data revealed that switching figures increased consistently from July (29,895) to September (62,511) as some participants offered cash incentives for switching again.

The most commonly cited reasons for favouring a new account were improved online banking facilities (47 per cent), preferable mobile banking systems (39 per cent) and better customer service (37 per cent) – all classed as non-financial reasons.

Maha El Dimachki, chief payments officer of Pay.UK, owner and operator of the Current Account Switch Service, said: “The market changes we’ve seen this year are like nothing anyone anticipated a few short months ago and we’re now looking at a very different financial ecosystem.

"After a dip in switching figures earlier in the year it’s encouraging to see month-on-month rises in switching numbers.”

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