By the end of April 2026, five UK current accounts were paying £150 or more as a switch incentive, and three of them (Lloyds Club, First Direct, NatWest Reward) hit £200. The reason is not marketing budget — it is the Open Banking deposit verification system that went into universal banking on 1 March 2026, which lets banks see in near-real-time whether your "switch" is actually shifting your salary or whether you are just opening a parallel account and shuffling £1,500 in and out monthly. The latter no longer pays.
The new deposit verification
Until 2025, "two qualifying deposits of £1,000 within 30 days" meant exactly that — and switchers could chain switches every three months, banking £700-£1,200 a year in bonuses by moving the same £2,000 around. The Open Banking API rebuild forces banks to look at the source of each deposit and pattern-match against the customer's existing account. A salary credit from a payroll employer ID, a pension provider, or a self-employed earnings flow all qualify. A £1,500 deposit from "Mr J Smith Personal" — which is your other account — does not.
The result: at Lloyds, around 70% of attempted switches in March-April 2026 did not receive the bonus because the deposit verification flagged the source as "internal cycling".
The five accounts paying £150 or more in May 2026
- Lloyds Club Lloyds — £200, requires £1,500 salary credit a month, £3 monthly fee waived if balance exceeds £1,500
- First Direct 1st Account — £200, requires £1,000 monthly salary, £250 interest-free overdraft, regular saver at 7%
- NatWest Reward — £200, two direct debits required, £2 monthly fee, 1% cashback on bills
- Santander Edge — £150, £3 monthly fee, 1% cashback on supermarket and transport up to £10/month
- Co-operative Bank Standard — £150, two active direct debits, no fee, no cashback
The real maths after fees
The headline bonus is the easy part. The annual operating cost of each account decides whether it makes sense to keep beyond the bonus window:
- Lloyds Club: £200 bonus − £36/year fee (if balance below £1,500) = £164 first year, then -£36 ongoing
- First Direct: £200 bonus, no fee, regular saver paying £180+ if maxed = £380 effective first year
- NatWest Reward: £200 bonus − £24/year fee + cashback (~£100/year if average bill spend) = £276 first year, +£76 ongoing
- Santander Edge: £150 bonus − £36/year fee + cashback (~£120/year average) = £234 first year, +£84 ongoing
- Co-op Standard: £150 bonus, no fee, no cashback = £150 first year, £0 ongoing
Which one to switch to
The most attractive in May 2026 is First Direct for anyone with an emergency fund — the regular saver paying 7% on up to £300/month adds £180-£220 in the first year for a saver who can lock away £3,600. If you cannot fund the regular saver, NatWest Reward wins for the typical billpayer.
If you are switching purely for the bonus and plan to switch again at year-end, Co-operative Bank Standard at £150 with zero fees is the cleanest play — but only one of these per 36 months is now eligible, so save the better banks for when you have salary deposits to verify with the new system.