More People Opening Bank Accounts

• News
• Published: 21 Oct 2009 in Money and Current Accounts

Figures have shown the number of people living in households which do not have access to a bank account has halved during five years.

According to a report by the Financial Inclusion Taskforce (FITF), in the period 2007/08 there were around 900,000 people in families which did not have a bank account - down from two million in 2002/2003.

This means the shared goal announced in 2004 between the Government and FITF of halving the number of people in this position has been reached.

The figures show that during 2007/2008 around 2% of the population did not have access to a bank account, compared with 4% in 2002/2003.

But nearly 1.8 million people still live in households where they do not have access to a bank account through which they can carry out transactions, such as a current account or basic bank account, although this is down from 3.6 million in 2002/2003.

Half of people who do not have access to a bank account of any kind are in the poorest 20% of households, while 80% are in the poorest 40%.

Nearly two-thirds of people in this position are single, although there has been a fall in the number of lone parents who do not have a bank account.