SOME 1.1 million current account customers have switched provider - using a service aimed at taking the fear factor out of moving to a new bank - in the first 11 months since the initiative was launched.

The number of switches which took place between October 1 2013 and August 31 this year represents a 19 per cent increase on the number of current account switches recorded during the same period a year earlier, the Payments Council said.

The figures were contained in a progress report into the current account switch service, which launched on September 16 last year.

The service allows people to ditch their old bank and move to a new one in seven working days, instead of up to 30 working days previously.