The regulator will launch a detailed study into the potential for account number portability in “a few months’ time”, Andrea Leadsom, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, announced.
In a speech at the annual conference of the British Bankers’ Association, highlighting the need for greater competition in banking, she said that such a system could “bring significant additional benefits for bank customers”.
The Minister said the FCA probe would hopefully provide “some real answers” to uncertainties that surround the area. These include the cost of implementing the system and the advantages it could bring beyond account switching.
The CISI has long called for customers to be able to move their bank account, without changing either their sort code or account number. In the City View opinion column in the September 2011 edition of the Review, the Institute argued that this would bring genuine competition to the banking sector and allow individuals greater choice.
CISI Chief Executive Simon Culhane, Chartered FCSI said: “It is welcome news that the FCA is to seriously consider bringing full account number portability to the banking sector. Banks have profited from the significant hassle in moving account, leading to ‘customer inertia’.
"While the seven-day bank account switching service introduced last year was a step in the right direction in tackling this problem, it does not go far enough. Giving individuals the ability to retain the same account details would mean that, at a stroke, switching becomes as easy as changing mobile-phone providers.”