A new analysis of finance, fintech and crypto apps on the Google Play Store by SplitMetrics, has found that UK neobanks have surpassed UK legacy banks in terms of app downloads for the very first time ahead of the festive season.
As it stands, UK neobanks have an estimated 71.78m Android users, 200k ahead of UK legacy banks with 71.58m users. In 2024 so far, UK neobanks have added an estimated 18.6m users, UK legacy banks 7.5m, European neobanks 2.9m and European legacy 8.4m.
The top five UK challenger bank apps in 2024 were Revolut (15.6m), Monzo (1.8m), Starling (463k), Virgin Money (242k) and First Direct (194k). The top five UK banks that added the most users in 2024 are Lloyds (1.2m), Barclays (1.1m), Halifax (1.0m), NatWest (912k) and HSBC (792k).
Thomas Kriebernegg, general manager, SplitMetrics, says: “Our analysis of the retail banking space shows that fintech is no longer a challenger but a dominant force in the industry. Will this growth continue into 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.”
SplitMetrics’ study also found that trading apps have added almost 11m new Android users globally in 2024, surpassing the sector’s record year in 2022 with 7.5m. Collectively, the apps have reached 86m lifetime users, with UK headquartered apps at 22.8m, European apps at 9m and the rest of the world at 54.6m.
The top five trading apps that added the most users in 2024 are Trade Republic (2.2m), eToro (2.0m), Robinhood (1.9m), Trading 212 (1.1m) and Fidelity Investments (1.0m).
On the money management front, the UK sector added an estimated 1.1m new Android users in 2024, with Plum (357k), Moneybox (299k), Snoop (171k), HypeJar (133k) and Emma (83k) leading the way.
The crypto sector has also had a strong year, hitting 5.6m Android downloads as Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election changed the dynamics. The top five European crypto apps that added the most users in 2024 are Luno (1.9m), Nexo (1.5m), Blockchain.com (677k), Bitpanda (425k) and Wirex (423k).