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* 93 percent of adults have a cash savings account
* Watchdog decides not to ban "teaser rates"
* Study found that big banks paid worst interest rates (Adds more detail)
By Huw Jones
LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Britons get poor value from manycash savings accounts, finding it hard to switch to rivalproviders, the Financial Conduct Authority said in a study onTuesday that however stopped short of banning some practices.
It should be made easier for consumers to compare and switchbetween accounts in the 700 billion pound ($1 trillion) cashsavings market where just six providers hold roughly two-thirdsof all balances.
The regulator hopes that making switching faster andproviding more timely information about pending changes ininterest rates will spur account holders to shop around.
It is the latest study from the FCA which faces pressure toboost competition in financial services, a sector lawmakers sayis too concentrated in the hands of the "big five" banks, HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, RBS andSantander UK.
The five biggest providers pay on average "materially" lowerrates on easy access savings accounts than smaller rivals, thestudy said.
The big players' 160 billion pound chunk of the market wasearning an interest rate that was at or below the Bank ofEngland record low base rate of 0.5 percent in 2013.
"In a good market firms should be competing to offer thebest possible deal and consumers should have the informationthey need to help them shop around," Christopher Woolard, theFCA's director of strategy and competition, said in a statement.
Savings accounts are held by 93 percent of adults in Britainand include easy access accounts, fixed term bonds, regularsavings accounts, and tax-exempt Individual Savings Accounts.
The watchdog put out several proposed changes to publicconsultation, including better information on interest rates andcutting the current 15-day switching time for cash accounts.
No time schedule for changes has been set yet.
Britain has already made it possible to switch bank accountswithin seven working days to boost competition.
The watchdog had initial concerns about so-called teaserrates of higher introductory interest rates that tapered off buthas decided not to ban them.
Nor will the watchdog force providers to offer all customersthe same interest rate either, but they should inform customersbetter when rates are due to change.
($1 = 0.6631 pounds) (Reporting by Huw Jones; editing by Keith Weir)
