Banking customers are increasingly opening multiple accounts, particularly the younger generations, with up to a third of Millennials and Genration Zs having opened at least two new accounts in the past five years.

This is according to Crealogix, which commissioned Censuswide in November to interview 2,000 18 to 65 year-olds who currently have a bank account.

Gen-Zs - survey respondents aged 18-21 - are particularly active in opening new accounts, with 81 per cent considering opening an additional bank account in the next three years, dropping slightly to 75 per cent of Millennials.

These younger generations are driving the rapid adoption of challenger banks, with a quarter of those under 37s surveyed already using mobile-only challenger bank accounts. The research found that Monzo was the most popular with Millennials.

Last week, figures from the Current Account Switch Service showed that challenger banks are enticing increasing numbers of customers to switch to their current accounts. Monzo added 5,588 switchers and lost 225, while Starling saw a rise of 2,362 current account switchers and 246 losses.

When asked what they look for when opening a new account, respondents overwhelmingly responded with feedback relating to mobile banking user experience, including convenience, functionality and easy control over their account.

Under 37s are particularly inclined towards mobile banking features, with 83 per cent of Gen-Zs and 76 per cent of Millennials stating that access to certain desirable features would attract them to try out another bank.

Gen-Zs will soon make up the largest demographic cohort, so user experience innovations pioneered by challenger banks are set to provide them an advantage in continuing to win market share, unless traditional banks are able to offer more feature parity, stated Crealogix.

The firm’s head of product strategy Anton Zdziebczok said that this is good news for regulators, which have been fighting in the 10 years since the financial crisis for more consumer choice and innovation in the highly concentrated UK retail banking market.

“This increased competition encourages innovation, ultimately delivering the best experience to the consumer, however, where the agile, mobile-first banks are using technology to win new customers, the incumbent banks have been slower to adapt.”

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