Numbers Part Eight: the UK Banking sector

I popped into the British Banker’s Association (BBA) last week and found that they publish a nice long list of statistics about our industry so, in yet another in the numbers series, here’s the low-down on the UK banking sector. 

At the end of 2006, there were:

• over 325 banks in the UK;
• 161 UK banks; and
• 176 branches of foreign banks, representing 60 nationalities.

They  collectively operate:

• 130 million personal accounts;
• 10 million mortgages; and
• 8 million personal loans.

They hold

• 25% of all European assets; which is over
• £6.3 trillion of  assets; with
• £600 billion of foreign exchange passed through London every year.

Over 95% of the UK population has a bank account with

• £500 billion in total personal deposits; of which
• £150 billion is withdrawn annually; of which
• £2.5 billion of cash withdrawals are made each year;
• from over 30,000  ATMs;
• representing a total of 7 billion transactions a year.

Banking is the fastest growing business sector in the UK:

• employing over half a million people;
• indirectly creating jobs for over 4 million people;
• contributing £50 billion to the UK  economy;
• paying £9 billion a year in tax; which represents
• a quarter of all corporation tax in the UK; and
• contributing 10% of the UK’s Gross Domestic Product.

And
large banks donate over £100 million a year to charities and community
initiatives, making them  one of the largest charity donors in the UK.
For example, the top 7 UK charity givers in 2003/04 were:

1. Glaxo Smith Kline
2. Royal Bank of Scotland
3. BP
4. HSBC
5. Barclays
6. Lloyds TSB
7. Northern Rock

… it just goes to prove why the British media love our banks so much!