High Street banks in the UK will witness a “significant” drop in market share in 2013 as dissatisfied clients switch accounts, while firms will invest heavily in mobile banking over the next 12 months, predicts Duncan Lawrie, the private bank.

Soaring customer dissatisfaction with high street banks, coupled with a demand for a return to a more personal service means that the days of 26-year average customer retention are over, the bank said. It cited data from over 1,000 high net worth individuals, in a report commissioned with YouGov between 14 and 16 August 2012, showing that 76 per cent of those questioned wanted a more personalised banking service.

Another factor unsettling the big banks’ market share is a demand, set down by the Independent Commission on Banking – a government-created body recommending policy changes – stating that banks have only seven days to switch client accounts when requested. The ICB wants this rule to be in full force by September 2013.

“The repercussions for the banking industry will be severe. With rock bottom faith in High Street banks and with many customers disgruntled at the service they are getting, we predict that people will start to look around. And the independent private banking industry is set to be a beneficiary,” Matthew Parden, managing director of Duncan Lawrie Private Bank, said.

Among other predictions from the bank included the expectation that UK members of parliament will face calls to bring their pensions in line with private and other public sector pensions. This comes after the news in a government statement in the late autumn of 2012 that that MPs’ pensions are exempt from the reductions in both the annual and lifetime allowances.

The bank also predicted that global equity markets will remain volatile in 2013 because of a mixture of low growth rates, political uncertainty and high sovereign debt levels, although low interest rates and policy stimuli boded well for equities versus bonds.