Is this the end of 'free' banking and who is winning the current account switching battle?

This is Money Podcast

This is Money

Business News, Business, Investing, News

4.1 • 650 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2020

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Murmurs from HSBC HQ this week warned that an overhaul of its business model could leave customers paying a monthly fee for their current accounts.

This week, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost ask whether this is really a possibility, if banking actually is free anyway and what happens next.

We also look at who is winning the battle of current account switchers and whether people are just too loyal to their bank.

This weekend marks the end of the furlough scheme, replaced by something new – while other financial support is also changing, including free overdrafts and mortgage payment holidays.

What impact did the second wave fear and upcoming US election have on the stock market this week?

Bitcoin has seen a surge in price this week, what has behind its rise to the highest level since the crazy end of 2017?

And boilers – one reader has been told that their 28 year model is too ancient to service. Is this a fair call?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to This Is Money Podcast. I'm Georgie Frost and alongside me and editor Simon Lambert. Today is assistant editor Lee Boyce. And this week is at the end of free banking. Murmers from HSBCHQ suggests an overhaul of its business model could leave customers walking out for their current accounts. Meanwhile, who's winning the battle of the switches.
0:22.1	Talking of ends, the furlough scheme closes this weekend to be replaced by the less
0:26.9	generous job support scheme, but it's not the only financial support that's changing,
0:31.8	including free overdrafts, payment holidays, and a halt on repossessions.
0:36.0	How can you stop this Halloween from being a nightmare?
0:39.3	We'll also revisit the impact that fear of a second wave in the upcoming US elections is
0:44.5	having on the stock market, plus we talk bitcoins and boilers. Not together though, to my mind,
0:50.7	the two aren't related. I'm sure we could find a way to relate them but not this time
0:55.8	don't forget and step to date with all the latest breaking money news just go to this ismoney
0:59.4	dot co dot uk or download the app but first lee's been singing to himself this week and
1:05.5	lee what have you been singing oh georgie don't make me do it in a Michael's stipe voice of REM, but I've been singing,
1:12.4	it's the end of free banking as we know it, potentially. Give us a little ditty, no? No.
1:18.3	No, no, fine, fine, fine. And why have you been singing that, Lee? Well, Georgie, this week,
1:23.5	we have had a number of British banks and international banks giving out some of their
1:29.2	quarterly reports. So it's a kind of snapshot of how they're performing and what's going on. And actually,
1:34.8	on the whole, Big Banks, Lloyd, Santander, Barclays, and HSBC have all actually had a kind of
1:41.1	solid enough quarter given all of the coronavirus madness that's been going
1:46.1	on. And actually a couple of them have even reported sort of above forecast profits. Now, HSBC,
1:52.7	which had a two billion pound profit, quarterly profit, has seen that profit collapse,
1:58.0	sort of 35 odd percent annually. So they're seeing profit margins being
2:02.4	squeezed. Now, what some of these banks said in their quarterly reports is the threat of
2:08.1	negative interest rates, which has been a kind of economic topic of the last couple of months,
	...

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