UK direct bank Egg is reporting strong customer acquisition in the final quarter, winning 141,000 new accounts from 1 October to 11 December. Total customer numbers for the period, net of attrition, have risen to 1.33 million.
These new customers have primarily come through the refreshed Egg card offering and via the launch of the joint branded Egg/Boots credit and loyalty card. Egg is also reporting growth in unsecured lending and mortgages and a record quarter for cross-sales to its customer base.
Egg continues to increase its number of deposit account customers, although the influx of new Internet-friendly customers typically bring lower average balances than the telephone based customers who are leaving the bank. However, Egg says the net outflow of deposit funds has slowed considerably (£154 million net outflow between 1 October and 11 December compared with the reduction of £443 million in Quarter 3).
On Monday, Egg launched a rejuvenated Web site, promising improved navigation and faster online application times. The bank has been buouyed by recent figures from MMXi which record unique vistors to the site in October rising by 46% month on month to 754,000, giving it an 18.1% share of the UK online banking audience.
Egg says its mortgage intermediation service, home and contents insurance offering, and current account are planned for pilot by the end of 2000, with full launch in quarter 1 next year. Egg is also rolling out a secure server-based wallet for online shopping early next year, and will be the first UK bank to adopt Visa's new 3-Domain model for chip card transactions.
The bank says net interest margin continues to improve compared with the third quarter and intermediation revenues are growing, especially in Egg Shop, which earned £194,000 for the month of November.