Nationwide’s £200 switching bonus saw a record 163,000 customers signed up, while other banks lost out.

Nationwide may have spent up to £39m on £200 switching bonuses to attract new current account customers in just three months, new figures suggest.

Britain’s largest building society took advantage of 163,363 bank account changes in the last three months of 2023, according to the Current Account Switching Service (CASS).

This surpasses the previous highest quarterly net profit of 111,941, also by Nationwide, in the last three months of 2022.

At the end of 2023, Nationwide was paying a £200 switching bonus to new members. The cash bribe was clearly a big draw for many clients.

On 21 September 2023, Nationwide launched a switch incentive offering £200 to new members. This was the largest cash donation on the market at the time, as NatWest had withdrawn its £200 offer not long before.

The Nationwide switch deal was terminated on December 21, 2023.

The extraordinary £200 cash bribe in the last three months of 2023 blew Nationwide’s competitors out of the water. At the time, Lloyds Bank, TSB and First Direct all paid switching bonuses, but none paid more than £175.

Andrew Hagger, founder of financial website MoneyComms, said: “The UK’s largest mutual gained 196,260 customers thanks to a £200 switching incentive which ran for four months from September 21, 2023.

“Offering attractive cash incentives to potential new checking account customers certainly works initially, but how many of those customers stick around?”

Only two other banks, Barclays and Lloyds, gained more customers than they lost through the changes in the final three months of last year.

Barclays gained 12,823 more customers than it lost, while Lloyds Bank gained only 5,800 more customers.

Meanwhile, other banks haemorrhaged customers and many abandoned ship for Nationwide.

Natwest and Halifax each lost more than 40,000 more switches than they gained, while Santander lost more than 34,000 net switches.

Hagger said, “Consumers are happy to jump ship for the next gift, especially as people are still feeling the pressure of higher bills.”

The latest CASS figures suggest that 320,364 changes occurred in the first three months of 2024.

March was the busiest, with 132,282 customers changing checking accounts.

Why are there so few trade bonuses now?

Currently there are no exchange bonds on the market.

Several banks withdrew their free cash offers this month, including HSBC, NatWest, Santander and First Direct.

This week, First Direct withdrew its £175 free cash offer, which launched on March 26. On 5 April, NatWest and RBS withdrew their £200 free cash offer and Santander canceled their £185 offer, which launched on 18 March. HSBC removed its £100 offer on 10 April, which launched on 12 March.

Towards the end of March, Lloyds Bank withdrew its £175 free cash exchange offer which had been available since mid-February 2024.

In January, TSB withdrew its offer of £125 free cash and The Co-operative Bank withdrew its offer of £100.

Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts, said: ‘Consumers will find that the free cash exchange benefits offered by providers have disappeared. These benefits come and go at different times of the year, but will be disappointing news for those who were hoping for a boost in free cash when switching using CASS.’

As for when switching bonuses will return, Springall said: “The current account market will certainly see a return of free cash offers, but these usually return when banks and building societies want to attract new customers, or even when They expect consumers to actively seek to advance their agreement, for example at the start of a new year.