Geoff - I suspect it is true with a certain demographic. The two banks we deal with in Aberdeen seem to be overwhelmed with trying to convince their older customers to move to other products.
Additionally, they're also used by banks for collateral purposes ( put so much amount in a fixed deposit for xxx facilities )?
Also they seem to be popular with the govt with a huge amount of its cash kept in fixed deposits.
Not too sure of what the statistics are .. just thought that if this were a trick question, the answer could well be fixed deposits.