London, Mar 25: Most European bank customers want to do business with domestic lenders when the continent’s single financial services market starts at the end of next year, according to a survey by accountants KPMG. More than half of 2,300 customers surveyed in 10 countries, or 53%, said they would prefer to deal with their own country’s banks, with 46% saying they would not like to see cross-border “super banks”, KPMG said. The European Union is putting in place legislation for a single financial services market as part of a plan to stimulate economic growth, allowing, for example, investment firms to offer services throughout the EU and give investors the possibility to shop around for the best deal.

Some banks in continental Europe and in Britain , including Barclays, have been looking for acquisitions outside their domestic markets to grow profits. But there has been little cross-border consolidation activity so far. “Many banks have struggled to make significant inroads in foreign markets, and it would appear that they will continue to find the going tough,” Brendan Nelson, KPMG’s global chairman of financial services, said. The survey found that Britons were the most loyal to their domestic banks, with 73% saying they wanted to deal with British lenders and 23% — the lowest in the survey — favouring competition from outside lenders. The least loyal customers were in Italy , where 28% favoured domestic banks and 47% wanted to bank with a foreign company. Bureau Report