Social Banking - Improving Access to Banking

HBOS is the UK's leading provider of social banking accounts by share of market stock.  Investing in social banking and maintaining our market share is part of our strategy to drive business growth.

Our large share of the social banking market reflects our longstanding commitment to financial inclusion. Our Easycash account gives those on low incomes access to essential money transmission services.

2006 saw the opening of 64,948 Easycash Accounts, giving us an 11% share of new accounts, in line with our target and our share of the UK current account market. Our target for 2007 is to increase this number to 15%.

These accounts are an important first step on to the financial services ladder. Since 2001, HBOS has upgraded 191,000 social bank accounts to full facilities accounts.

We are committed to working with the Government to achieve their goal, set in December 2004, to make significant progress within two years towards halving the 2.8 million "unbanked" households.

The Banking Code Standards Board has recently carried out an independent review of banks' social banking practices.  HBOS is the first bank to publish, in full, the findings of the review. Click here to access the report.