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FCA

FCA

Financial Conduct Authority (UK)

Medium Impact

FCA says nine major UK banks must improve access to basic bank accounts

Published

Jul 6, 2026

Topics

Retail banking, Basic bank accounts, Financial inclusion, Vulnerable customers, Consumer Duty, Customer onboarding, Access to banking

Executive Summary

The FCA has announced that nine of the UK’s largest banks and building societies have committed to improving access to basic bank accounts after FCA mystery shopping found widespread poor practice. Basic bank accounts are intended for people who may not otherwise access a standard current account, including people in financial difficulty, those without standard identification and people with no fixed address. The FCA found that providers did not consistently mention or offer these accounts and sometimes directed vulnerable customers to online journeys unsuitable for their needs. The affected institutions have agreed individual improvement plans, while UK Finance has supported a collective commitment to provide the right account first time, reduce friction for non-standard ID and no-fixed-address applicants, and identify vulnerability early. This is not a new rulebook instrument with a stated effective date, but it creates clear supervisory expectations. Retail banking firms should treat the publication as requiring prompt review of onboarding, branch and telephony scripts, vulnerability pathways, training, MI and quality assurance controls.

What Changed

modifiedSupervisory focus on basic bank account access

Previous

The FCA previously urged account providers to improve awareness and ease of application for basic bank accounts.

New

Nine legally mandated providers have agreed individual improvement plans, and the FCA says it will hold them to account for delivery.

modifiedExpected customer journey for eligible customers

Previous

Mystery shopping found firms often failed to mention basic bank accounts to customers who could benefit from them.

New

Providers are expected to improve frontline identification, explanation and routing to basic bank accounts.

modifiedAccess for customers without standard ID or fixed address

Previous

Mystery shoppers with vulnerability characteristics were sometimes pushed toward unsuitable online application routes or not offered practical alternatives.

New

Firms have committed to make it straightforward for customers without standard ID or a fixed address to open an account.

modifiedVulnerability recognition and channel alternatives

Previous

The FCA found inconsistent frontline support for customers in vulnerable circumstances across branch and telephone interactions.

New

Firms should strengthen early vulnerability identification, assisted onboarding and non-digital pathways.

newIndustry-level commitment through UK Finance

Previous

No collective commitment is described in the FCA’s earlier 2024 access-to-bank-accounts press release.

New

The FCA states it has worked with UK Finance to secure a collective commitment covering right-account routing, non-standard ID/no fixed address access and vulnerability support.

Business Impact

Who is affected

Directly affected

Barclays UK, The Co-operative Bank, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group including Halifax and Bank of Scotland, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest Group including RBS and Ulster Bank, Santander UK, TSB and Virgin Money UK as a Nationwide Building Society brand.

Indirectly affected

other UK current account providers, branch and contact-centre outsourcing partners, digital onboarding vendors, financial inclusion charities, debt advice organisations and compliance teams benchmarking Consumer Duty outcomes.

Jurisdictions

United Kingdom

Business processes

Basic bank account onboarding and eligibility triage, Branch and telephone customer journeys, Digital application fall-back and assisted application routes, Non-standard identification and no-fixed-address onboarding controls, Vulnerable customer identification, recording and referral, Frontline staff training, scripts and knowledge management, Conduct risk MI, quality assurance and board/customer outcomes reporting

Estimated effort

Medium

Compliance risk

Medium

Affected Reports

Basic bank account onboarding journey quality assurance checklistVulnerable customer identification and referral MINon-standard ID / no fixed address application exception logBasic bank account application outcome and decline monitoringBranch and telephony staff training attestation and script control
FieldValidation rule

Recommended Actions

7 suggested next steps· derived from source analysis
  1. 1
    Confirmed actionStep 1 of 7

    directly named providers should map their FCA-agreed improvement plan actions to owners, delivery dates, MI and accountable senior managers, without waiting for further rulemaking.

  2. 2
    AI generatedStep 2 of 7

    Review branch, telephone and digital journeys to ensure staff identify when a basic bank account may be suitable and explain it clearly before directing customers to other products or unsuitable online-only routes.

  3. 3
    AI generatedStep 3 of 7

    Update non-standard ID and no-fixed-address procedures so frontline staff can offer practical evidence options, escalation routes and assisted onboarding rather than default rejection or deferral.

  4. 4
    AI generatedStep 4 of 7

    Strengthen vulnerable customer controls by adding early triage prompts, accessible alternatives to online applications, staff guidance and quality assurance sampling of high-risk interactions.

  5. 5
    AI generatedStep 5 of 7

    Refresh training, scripts and knowledge articles for branch and contact-centre teams, and test outcomes through mystery shopping, call listening and file reviews.

  6. 6
    AI generatedStep 6 of 7

    Enhance MI to monitor basic bank account applications, referrals, declines, abandonment, non-standard ID cases, no-fixed-address cases and complaints, with governance review of poor-outcome indicators.

  7. 7
    AI generatedStep 7 of 7

    For firms outside the nine named providers, benchmark current account onboarding and vulnerable customer pathways against the FCA findings as good conduct-risk and Consumer Duty practice.

Timeline

publication

Sep 4, 2024

FCA published earlier findings and urged banks and other account providers to increase awareness of basic bank accounts and make applications easier.

publication

Sep 12, 2024

FCA Consumer Panel published research calling for FCA action to improve visibility and promotion of basic bank accounts.

publication

Jul 7, 2026

FCA published the press release announcing that nine banks and building societies committed to improve basic bank account access after FCA mystery shopping.

publication

Jul 7, 2026

FCA published related good and poor practice findings on basic bank account access and industry commitments to change.

Sources

AI-generated analysis is based on the following primary sources. Always verify against the official publication.

Related Evidence

Verified source support for this analysis

The evidence agent checks whether the drafted finding is supported by official publications and relevant public source material.

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