Banks aim to become one-stop shops for current account holders

January 5, 2010

By Mark Warner

Halifax is the latest to join a trend for larger banks and building societies to target current account customers with special deals on other products, according to financial researchers.

Special mortgage deals, credit cards, unsecured personal loans and savings accounts are some of the offers regularly presented to current account customers by providers keen to become "one-stop shops" for all their customers' personal finance needs.

Analysts at Defaqto single out Abbey's Zero current account, available exclusively to its mortgage customers, HSBC and NatWest's credit cards and personal loans - available to their current account holders only - and Royal Bank of Scotland's credit cards and personal loans which are only available to its current account customers.

Meanwhile, Halifax is offering current account customers an additional three months at 0% on purchases (for 12 months, instead of 9 months) on its credit card. An extra 0.20% on a range of variable rate savings products is also being offered to the provider's current account customers.

"Banks see the current account as the main relationship builder with the customer and it also enables them to have a much better understanding of the financial capabilities of each customer," observes Defaqto's David Black.