The Alliance & Leicester has announced it is offering a £25 cash bonus to applicants that open a Premier Current Account and linked MoneyBack Plus credit card during April.

Accounts must be opened at one of the bank’s branches or by telephone.

The offer is an extension of an initiative offering a similar incentive to internet users opening an account online.

Ewan Edwards, head of current accounts at Alliance & Leicester, said: “The £25 bonus is only a start – applicants will find the value of the other Premier benefits quickly mount up.

“In fact, we reckon a customer switching from one of the ‘Big Four’ will typically save around £140 within the first 12 months of opening a Premier account.”

Benefits of the Premier Current Account include free annual world-wide travel insurance (worth around £80), an overdraft rate of 0 per cent for one year and a credit interest rate of 2.12 per cent AER.