A new analysis of finance, fintech and crypto applications on the Google Play Store by app growth solutions company SplitMetrics, found that UK neobanks overtook UK traditional banks in app downloads for the first time ever before the festive season.
As it stands, UK neobanks have around 71.78 million Android users, which is 200,000 more than UK legacy banks with 71.58 million users. So far in 2024, UK neobanks have added around 18.6 million users, UK legacy banks 7.5 million, EU neobanks 2.9 million and EU legacy banks 8.4 million.
Record year for fintech 2024
So far, the top five challenger banking apps in the UK in 2024 were Revolut (15.6 million), Monzo (1.8 million), Starling (463,000), Virgin Money (242,000) and First Direct ( 194,000). The top five UK banks that added the most users in 2024 are Lloyds (1.2 million), Barclays (1.1 million), Halifax (1.0 million), NatWest (912,000) and HSBC (792,000 ).
The SplitMetrics study also found that trading apps have so far added nearly 11 million new Android users globally in 2024, surpassing the industry’s record year of 2022 with 7.5 million. Using data from the App Radar by SplitMetrics platform, the survey analyzed the performance of the world’s top 20 trading and investing apps. Collectively, the apps have reached 86 million lifetime users, including 22.8 million for UK-based apps, 9 million for European apps and 54.6 million for the rest of the world.
The top five trading apps that added the most users in 2024 are Trade Republic (2.2 million), eToro (2.0 million), Robinhood (1.9 million), Trading 212 (1.1 million) and Fidelity Investments (1.0 million).
On the financial management front, the UK industry added around 1.1 million new Android users in 2024. These apps that help users budget and save are adding an average of 98,000 new users per month and have already exceeded SplitMetrics’ forecast of reaching 1.1 million by the end of the year. This makes it a record year for the sector, with the previous two years both reaching just under a million new users.
The top five money management apps that added the most users in 2024 are Plum (357,000), Moneybox (299,000), Snoop (171,000), HypeJar (133,000), and Emma (83,000).
The crypto sector had a strong year after a difficult 2023. SplitMetrics’ previous analysis of the crypto sector earlier this year predicted that the industry would approach the 2022 peak of 7.2 million downloads. With 5.6 million Android downloads in 2024 so far, the industry will enter 2025 on a high note. The top five European crypto apps that added the most users in 2024 are Luno (1.9 million), Nexo (1.5 million), Blockchain.com (677,000), Bitpanda (425,000) and Wirex ( 423,000).
Another indicator of a good year for the crypto industry It’s the steady rise of the new kid on the block: crypto AI applications. These apps have already surpassed the previous year’s peak of 322,000, with 556,000 in 2024 so far. The five apps that added the most users in 2024 are uTrading (188,000), Pionex (141,000), Stoic AI (58,000), Capitalise.ai (46,000), and 3Commas (42,000).
Thomas Kriebernegg, managing director of agency SplitMetrics, said: “Finance is one of the most competitive sectors in the mobile market and it encompasses all kinds of application types; Since retail banking through investing and crypto to B2B services.
“With so many different players, this also makes it a very expensive category when it comes to user acquisition – as our report from earlier this year revealed. This isn’t surprising as startups are disrupting the industry, but we also have traditional banks catching up to consumer needs – and consumers have the user base for user acquisition.
“Our analysis of the retail banking sector, however, shows that fintech is no longer a challenger but a dominant force in the sector. Will this growth continue until 2025 and beyond? Time will tell, but the work is not over for fintech apps: the hard work of retaining these hard-earned new users begins now.
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