Halifax launches new current account

Halifax has launched a new current account which it claims gives the best interest rates on the high street.

The account promises to pay five per cent interest on balances up to £2,500 which could benefit users by £1,065 over the typical life of a current account.

Benny Higgins, CEO of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) Retail, said that he expected the account to tempt customers away from the major high street banks.

According to the HBOS research, NatWest, Barclays, HSBC and LloydsTSB current accounts gave only 0.1 per cent interest on balances.

With low rates, Halifax stated that customers could be £1.4 billion better off every year if they made the switch.

Such is the allure of interest 50 times better than that offered by other branches, HBOS claimed that nearly two thirds of customers of the “Big Four” banks said they would switch.