Decided that retail banking is the devil? You could opt for a piggybank. Or you could try the new online only services claiming to have changed the humble bank account forever.

In Durham, Atom Bank is poised to launch shortly as a bank with no branches, living solely on the internet.

The US has Ally Bank, an internet-only bank focused on its smartphone interface.

China recently has launched an internet-only bank of its own, WeBank, led by gaming and social network group Tencent Holdings.

With British and US retail banks in low repute since the credit crunch, the field is ripe for nimble new entrants, unencumbered by physical branches, bad loans, and ageing infrastructure.

Meanwhile, many British banks continue to operate back-end systems in pounds, shillings, and pence.

And a botched 2012 attempt at an IT upgrade by the RBS group left 6.5 million people unable to make payments for up to three weeks.

Nudging open the teller’s window for new competition: banking scandals, rate-fixing and payment protection insurance, and bankers’ bonuses have played their role, too.

The bank of the internet is increasingly open.

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