Pressure grows for portable bank accounts Bank customers could use their mobile phone numbers as portable account identifications in future as the industry comes under increased pressure to improve competition. Research commissioned by the UK Payments Council suggests that portability based on some form of personal ID could be the "natural successor" to a new current account switching service set to launch in September. The research follows pressure from the Treasury and consumer groups for banks to introduce fully portable accounts in order to make it easier for account holders to switch to a new provider. Last year 1.2m people in the UK switched their current accounts out of 46m account holders. Banks have resisted the idea, saying that it would be expensive and could take up to 10 years to arrange. Estimates from Lloyds Banking Group put the cost of full account portability between £2bn and £5bn. Instead, the industry has opted to introduce a seven-day switching system, which will cost about £750m. The new service will require banks and building societies to speed up the time in which they transfer accounts to rival providers and take responsibility for arranging all incoming and outgoing payments on behalf of customers. No targets have been set to increase the number of customers who switch accounts, but the Payments Council plans to review the scheme's success in 2015 and will reconsider other models if necessary, including personal portable IDs. Portable IDs would link a proxy number, such as a mobile phone number, to a bank account, allowing the customer to take this number when they moved to a new provider, instead of taking an account number and sort code. A new Payments Council database set to launch in 2014 linking bank customers" mobile phone numbers to their accounts could increase the viability of this model. The database will allow people to transfer money via text message or smartphone app using just a contact's phone number instead of their full bank account details. So far Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, Metro Bank, Danske Bank and Cumberland Building Society have signed up to the scheme. "There are a number of ways to achieve portability and the idea of using a proxy like a mobile phone number could be the way forward," said Jemma Smith of the Payments Council. However, separate data published on Monday have put a dampener on hopes that the UK is primed for a high-tech mobile revolution in banking. After a decade in which consumers have reduced their reliance on cash, moving to card and online payments instead, cash payments rose last year. Consumers and businesses made £20.8bn cash payments in 2012, compared with £20.6bn in 2011. Use of ATMs also increased, as squeezed consumers turned to cash to help them budget. "The UK is one of the few European countries whose cash machine network is still growing," said John Howells, chief executive of the Link ATM Network.