Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Sep 21, 2025

UK BANKING CHANNEL FORECAST: How shifting consumer habits and the coronavirus pandemic are shaping future usage of and informing banks' investments in branches, digital and mobile banking, ATMs, and call centers

UK BANKING CHANNEL FORECAST: How shifting consumer habits and the coronavirus pandemic are shaping future usage of and informing banks' investments in branches, digital and mobile banking, ATMs, and call centers

Insider Intelligence forecasts the growth or decline over the next five years of five key banking channels in the UK.

The UK banking space is experiencing a push toward digital channels — driven by branch closures, consumer preference for digital, declines in cash usage, and changes brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic is accelerating existing usage trends — like lowered cash usage — in some channels while highlighting the need for digitization in other areas. And the magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic is going to impact the lasting effects it has on changes in banking channels: If it takes a moderate course and the UK economy fully reopens within the coming months, shifts will be less significant than if the pandemic takes a severe course, where persistent public health threats due to the coronavirus will keep branches closed for an extended period.

Business Insider Intelligence


Banks are being forced to reevaluate their investments in different banking channels as consumers gravitate toward digital. Shifts in penetration for branches, digital banking, smartphone banking, ATMs, and call centers provide a lens into where the UK banking industry will be in the next five years.

This should inform banks' decisions about what areas to invest in more heavily going forward to drive customer acquisition and retention.
For channels including branches, ATMs, and call centers, penetration is defined as the percent of UK bank account holders ages 18+ who access those channels at least once per year, while for smartphone banking and digital banking, we define penetration as the percent who use those channels at least once per month.

In The UK Banking Channel Forecast report, Insider Intelligence forecasts the growth or decline over the next five years of five key banking channels in the UK: branches, digital platforms, smartphones, call centers, and ATMs. We identify the drivers behind the trajectory of each channel's penetration, including changes to consumer behavior or advancements in technology.

We also highlight how the coronavirus pandemic and its subsequent lockdown period has affected each of these growth trajectories in the immediate and longer term. We include penetration forecasts for two possible pandemic scenarios, a moderate one in which the UK economy fully reopens within the coming months, and a severe one where persistent public health threats keep branches closed for an extended period.

The companies mentioned in this report include: Barclays, HSBC, Revolut, Lloyds, Monzo, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Starling, and TSB.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

*  Branch penetration has been declining as banks have scaled back their physical footprints to rein in operating costs. Temporary closures during the pandemic are accelerating that decline and could cause long-term behavioral shifts among customers from physical to digital channels.

*  The rise of neobanks is forcing incumbents to step up their digital offerings, and the pandemic has made digital and smartphone banking channels the primary points for customers to access their finances — driving usage of these channels up out of convenience.

*  There has been a years-long shift away from cash in the UK, and as digital channel penetration increases, consumers will be even less reliant on ATMs. But the shrinking availability of free ATMs has sparked controversy from regulators and consumer advocates working to protect cash-reliant consumers.

*  Call center penetration will be sustained by the continued preference for human assistance. Call centers became the front line of communication between customers and banks during the onset of the pandemic — and they were inundated with requests for payment holidays.

In full, the report:


* Forecasts where penetration in each banking channel — branch, ATM, call center, digital, and smartphone — will stand through 2024.

* Explores the factors leading to the uptick or decline in usage of each banking channel.

* Considers the current and ongoing role of the coronavirus pandemic on the usage of these channels.

* Highlights notable areas of investment for banks based on usage trends.

* Recommends how banks can drive the most value out of their investments in each channel.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
Documents Reveal Mandelson Failed to Declare Epstein-Funded Flights as MP in 2003
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Harris Memoir Sparks Backlash from Democrats for Blunt Critiques in ‘107 Days’
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Japan’s ‘Death-Tainted’ Homes Gain Appeal as Prices Soar in Tokyo
Massive Attack Withdraws from Spotify Over Daniel Ek’s €600M Defence-AI Investment
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders Third Lethal Strike on Drug-Trafficking Vessel as U.S. Expands Maritime Counter-Narcotics Operations
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
Why Google Search Is Fading and AI Is Taking Its Place
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Fifteen-Billion-Dollar Suit Against New York Times, Orders Refile
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
DeepSeek Claims R1 Model Trained for only $294,000, Sparking Global Debate Over China’s AI Capabilities
SoftBank Vision Fund to Cut Nearly Twenty Percent of Staff in Bold AI Strategy Shift
Intel’s Next-Gen Manufacturing Gets a Lifeline from Nvidia’s Strategic $5B Deal
Erika Kirk Elected CEO of Turning Point USA After Husband Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
×