Brits obsessing about bank balances

Britons are becoming obsessed with their bank balances, with millions checking their current accounts on a daily basis.

A new survey by mobile messaging firm Sybase 365 shows a quarter of UK adults can tell you their exact bank balance at any given time, 38 per cent know how much money they have to the nearest £10, and another 29 per cent to the nearest £100.

And this is driven by consumers focusing ever-more closely on their available cash, with most Britons checking their bank balances regularly, two in five every few days and one in seven checking every day.

"Consumers are becoming increasingly vigilant when it comes to their finances and take a prudent attitude to money," said Mark Weait of Sybase 365.

"This is based on a number of emotive issues that have been highlighted in the media recently such as monitoring bank charges for exceeding your overdraft limit, fraud prevention and identity theft."

There has been an increase in the number of ways people can keep tabs on their money, with internet banking, increasing numbers of cash machines, and banks now sending text updates to mobile phones and rolling out mobile banking to go with more traditional methods such as monthly statements and in-branch enquiries.

But it is the adoption of mobile banking that is catching the eye - with Barclays this week joining Nationwide, HSBC, and Alliance & Leicester among others in offering mobile banking with the launch of the Barclays.mobi service.

"Mobile banking usage is still in early adoption in the UK, yet it makes a logical addition to existing customer communication tools used by today's financially aware and tech savvy consumers," said Mr Weait.

"Mobile banking will allow consumers to check their finances whilst on the move, with the added benefit of being able to receive financial information such as fraud alerts almost instantaneously."