A recent analysis conducted by SplitMetrics has revealed a significant trend in the finance sector: UK neobanks have overtaken traditional UK banks in app downloads for the first time, just in time for the festive season.
Currently, UK neobanks boast approximately 71.78 million Android users, surpassing legacy banks, which have around 71.58 million users. Throughout 2024, neobanks in the UK have seen a substantial increase, adding an estimated 18.6 million new users, compared to only 7.5 million for traditional banks. In contrast, European neobanks have gained 2.9 million users, while European legacy banks added 8.4 million.
The leading UK challenger bank apps for 2024 include Revolut with 15.6 million users, Monzo with 1.8 million, Starling at 463,000, Virgin Money at 242,000, and First Direct with 194,000 users. Among traditional banks, Lloyds led the user growth with an additional 1.2 million users, followed by Barclays with 1.1 million, Halifax at 1.0 million, NatWest with 912,000, and HSBC adding 792,000 users.
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager of SplitMetrics, stated, “Our examination of the retail banking landscape indicates that fintech has transitioned from a challenger to a dominant force within the industry. Whether this growth trajectory will persist into 2025 and beyond remains to be seen, but the real challenge for fintech apps now lies in retaining these newly acquired users.”
The study also highlighted that trading applications have gained nearly 11 million new Android users globally in 2024, surpassing the record year of 2022, which saw an increase of 7.5 million. Overall, the trading apps have reached a lifetime user count of 86 million, with UK-based apps representing 22.8 million users, European apps accounting for 9 million, and the remainder from the rest of the world totaling 54.6 million.
The top-performing trading apps in user acquisition for 2024 include Trade Republic with 2.2 million new users, eToro at 2.0 million, Robinhood with 1.9 million, Trading 212 adding 1.1 million, and Fidelity Investments with 1.0 million new users.
In the money management category, UK apps have collectively added around 1.1 million new Android users in 2024, with Plum leading at 357,000 new users, followed by Moneybox with 299,000, Snoop at 171,000, HypeJar with 133,000, and Emma contributing 83,000.
The cryptocurrency sector has also demonstrated robust growth, achieving 5.6 million Android downloads in 2024, influenced by changing political dynamics following Donald Trump’s election win in the US. The top five European crypto apps that have seen the most user growth this year are Luno with 1.9 million, Nexo with 1.5 million, Blockchain.com adding 677,000, Bitpanda with 425,000, and Wirex bringing in 423,000 new users.