Which banks are best for customer satisfaction?



The so-called ‘challenger bank’ Monzo has topped an official league table which charts whether customers would recommend their bank to family and friends. Its score of 80% was higher than all its rivals across the UK. The survey of 16,000 people placed Monzo first, Starling second, and First Direct third.

Joint bottom of the table were Virgin Money and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) - both of which were recommended by only 48% of their customers in the survey.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) introduced current account satisfaction tables six years ago to encourage switching and to improve customer service. The results must be displayed in branches (if they have any) and on the banks' websites.

The survey, which is conducted every six months, also covers the quality of online and mobile provision, branch and overdraft services and (for small businesses) the quality of the relationship management they receive.

One set of research covers Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), with a separate table for Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, Monzo and Starling were joint top for personal accounts, with Barclays in third and Allied Irish Banks (AIB) bottom of the table. For business customers in Northern Ireland, Santander, Danske Bank and Ulster Bank were the top three on the list, with AIB at the bottom.

Adam Land, from the CMA said: "How banks treat their customers can make an enormous difference to their daily lives, particularly when people and small businesses are feeling the pinch."

Lyndsey Edgar, vice president of operations at Monzo (which has eight million customers) said: "These results are testament to the brilliant people we have at Monzo, who ensure customers are at the heart of everything we do."

A spokesperson for Virgin Money said it was "determined to give customers the best products", while RBS admitted it could "do more to improve the experience for customers in certain aspects of our service."


Research Methodology

Every six months, around 1,000 customers of each of the 16 largest personal current account providers in Britain, and around 500 customers of each of the 11 largest personal current account providers in Northern Ireland, are asked if they would recommend their provider to friends and family and the results are compiled to give the overall score

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