Market share of leading British-owned banks in the United Kingdom 2017

In 2017, the United Kingdom’s three largest banks accounted for approximately 50 percent of assets held by banks in the region. The UK’s largest bank had total assets valued at 2.1 trillion euros in 2017 and held a market share of 25 percent. In 2017, HSBC was also the largest bank in Europe.

The fall of Europe’s banks

Since the financial crisis, banks need to enhance profitability and ensure financial stability has seen the number of credit institutions fall. This alongside the rise in online banking, the need for physical bank branches has become less relevant. In 2017, Estonia’s physical banks had an average of over 14.5 thousand customers per branch.

The United Kingdom’s finance sector

In 2017, the United Kingdom’s financial services sector employed more than one million employees. Despite the rise of employment in the UK’s financial services sector, bank branches have seen a similar decline to the rest of Europe, with the North West seeing the largest number of branches closed in recent years. Between 1981 and 2018, some banks have seen as much as an 80 percent fall in branches nationwide.