Thousands look to abandon the big banks

The flight away from the mainstream high street banks following the Libor fixing scandal is showing no sign of abating.

The Islamic Bank of Britain has told the Independent on Sunday that it has seen a 10-fold increase in applications for its savings accounts over the past few weeks mainly from people who are interested in ethical investment and disillusioned with the big names.

Meanwhile, the Move your Money campaign group says the 10-fold increase in hits on its site – which urges people to abandon traditional banking – has been maintained, two months after the Libor fixing scandal broke.

"We are also seeing a different demographic registering their distrust of the big banks. In the past it was mainly young ethically minded people now its older people who may have been with their bank 20 or 30 years," Louis Brooke, a spokesman for Moveyourmoney said.

Even small business owners are getting involved: "Banking scandals are the gift that keeps on giving and we are now seeing British consumers from all walks of life looking at alternatives," Mr Brooke added.

A similar US movement has seen hundreds of thousands of people shift away from big banks.