Eight out of 10 women who are married or living with their partner and don’t have a joint bank account say it is because they want to keep their financial independence, according to research from Alliance & Leicester.

Although nearly half of couples claim to share control of money in a relationship when it comes to bank accounts, a third prefer to keep their financial affairs separate.

Research reveals that financial independence is a much bigger issue for women than it is for men. These days, only a third of couples who are married or living with their partner keep all their cash in a joint bank account. Another third keep a foot in both camps – with money in a joint account and a separate account in their own name. More than a quarter of people feel that money is more important than love and keep their finances totally separate.

The reasons given by couples, for keeping separate accounts, shine a fascinating light on how the sexes view their money and relationships:

Independence is far more important to women than men – eight out of ten women who are living with their partner or married say this is the main reason they don’t have a joint account compared to just 60% of men.

For men it seems that keeping the peace is an important reason for not having a joint bank account with their partner. Nearly a quarter of married men or those living with their partner do not have a joint account because they think that it would cause arguments – compared with just 13% of women.

The other main reason given by 15% of women for keeping an individual account is they believe their partners are bad with money.

In addition, although trust is meant to be the foundation of any relationship, this doesn’t seem true when it comes to men and their hard-earned cash.

In fact, 21% of men who are married or living with their partner do not have a joint account, as they are worried their partner would dip into it without them knowing.

When people who have joint accounts were asked what made them choose their new account, only one in five people (21%) said that they shopped around for a competitive deal, with more than three quarters of respondents (78%) simply opening a joint account with the bank they were already with.

Ewan Edwards, Head of Current Accounts at Alliance & Leicester, commented: “Our research reveals that a ‘what’s mine is mine’ attitude remains important to people, even after they tie the knot. However, the research highlights a marked difference between men and women. Worryingly, there is one point on which they both agree - rather than shopping around for the best deal when applying for a joint account, over three quarters of couples just turned to the bank they already had an account with. Whichever way people want to manage their finances, our message is they could be making their money work harder for them either jointly or individually by switching to a better bank account.”