First direct launches account aggregation

The free service, known as Internet Banking plus, will offer the UK's estimated 11 million online banking customers single-screen access to all of their Internet accounts.

Alan Hughes, first direct’s chief executive, says the service will liberate people from "password purgatory".

"It puts users in the driving seat, which is our approach to technology - to make it work for people and make their financial lives convenient and hassle-free," he says. "Over 500,000 of our own customers have told us they want this new generation of Internet banking."