Revolut downloads surpass legacy banks in the UK

The UK is seeing a major shift in online banking, as the local neobanks have surpassed traditional banks in mobile app downloads. This is the first time this has happened, and it represents a major achievement for the emerging challenger bank sector.

According to recent data, digital challengers have seen 71.78 million Android users, while legacy banks’ figure is slightly lower, sitting at 71.58 million. The information was shared by SplitMetrics, and it suggests that the digital banking surge has been particularly noticeable in 2024.

Neobanks are rapidly growing in the UK

Throughout the year, neobanks have seen 18.6 million users approach their services, while traditional banks have seen a much lower figure of 7.5 million. Among the neobanks, the biggest and most successful one was Revolut, which has since become a clear and undisputed leader among challenger banks.

The company managed to accumulate 15.6 million downloads throughout this year alone, while Starling Bank, one of the largest legacy banks, only saw 463,000 new users. Starling was not the only one, as traditional banks overall saw much more modest growth compared to Revolut and its peers. Lloyds, for example, saw the largest growth with 1.2 million new downloads, while the second place went to Barclays, which saw 1.1 million new users.

The data also suggests that users were quick to join the banks that displayed a willingness to innovate. For example, Monzo became the first bank in the country to introduce Apple Pay monthly payments, and it recently secured some extra funding from Google. This helped boost its total valuation to $5 billion, which was also an important milestone.

Commenting on the numbers, SplitMetrics’ General Manager, Thomas Kriebernegg, stated that fintech is no longer just a challenger. It is now a dominant force in the UK’s banking industry. The big question is whether similar growth will continue in 2025 and beyond. “Time will tell, but the work is not over for fintech apps—the hard work of retaining those hard-earned new users begins now,” he concluded.

Of course, digital banks will likely do everything in their power to maintain their leadership in the sector, with Revolut itself already sharing ambitious plans for the next year. The bank intends to introduce AI-powered banking, smart ATMs, as well as mortgages. As such, it will become more advanced in terms of product offerings than its more traditional competitors.

Digital-first solutions also dominated the year in other sectors 

While the figures show that digital banking has been growing rapidly in the UK, visible growth has marked the broader fintech sector. Trading apps continue to hit new milestones, with the number of new Android users globally reaching 11 million in 2024. The figure surpassed the previous record, which was seen in 2022.

Trade Republic was the leader of the trading segment, seeing 2.2 million new users, while eToro managed to secure around 2 million new customers. Apart from that, UK-based apps also dominated the money management category, attracting 1.1 million new users relying on Android devices. The leaders in this sector ended up being Moneybox and Plum.

Data also shows that the crypto sector showed resilience, with 5.6 million Android downloads in 2024, with Nexo and Luno becoming Europe’s top-performing apps.

All in all, this data shows that the UK is seeing a major transformation in how its consumers interact with financial services. Digital solutions are rapidly seeing growing mainstream acceptance, which is a shift that is bringing both new challenges and new opportunities for traditional banks. On one hand, they must compete with more tech-driven and agile competitors, but at the same time, they get a chance to innovate and prove their competitive capabilities.