Today marks the 11th publication over 6 years of the services
quality league table of personal and business current account
providers. The survey was established as part of the Retail Banking Order –
a set of reforms put in place by the Competition and Markets
Authority (CMA) following its retail banking market investigation
in 2016.
The latest independent results from the large-scale survey
ranking the service quality of personal and business current
account providers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland are
available via the links below:
-
Ipsos
(which covers personal current accounts)
-
BVA-BDRC (which covers
business current accounts)
Personal and small business current account holders were asked
how likely they would be to recommend their provider to a friend,
relative or other business. The survey also covered the quality
of online and mobile provision, branch and overdraft services
and, for small businesses, the quality of the relationship
management they receive.
The results show customers how their bank is ranked on quality of
service and make it easier for people to compare offers. They
also promote competition between providers, resulting in better
experiences for all account holders. Customers who find another
bank offering a better deal can use the Current Account Switch
Service to help make the process of switching much simpler.
This free service is available to anyone with a personal or
business current account in the UK.
Great Britain results
Results are for the period July 2022 to June 2023
Overall, the top-ranked personal current account providers in
Great Britain are:
- Monzo (1st)
- Starling Bank (2nd)
- First direct (3rd)
Overall, the bottom-ranked personal current providers in Great
Britain are:
- Virgin Money (=15th)
- Royal Bank of Scotland (=15th)
- TSB (14th)
Overall, the top-ranked business current account providers in
Great Britain are:
- Monzo (1st)
- Starling Bank (2nd)
- Handelsbanken (3rd)
Overall, the bottom-ranked business current account providers in
Great Britain are:
- HSBC UK (15th)
- The Co-operative Bank (14th)
- Virgin Money (13th)
Northern Ireland results
The top-ranked personal account providers in Northern Ireland
overall are Monzo, Starling Bank and Barclays, while the
bottom-ranked current account providers are Ulster Bank, Bank of
Ireland UK and Allied Irish Banks.
Overall, the top-ranked business current account providers in
Northern Ireland are Santander, Danske Bank and Ulster Bank,
while the bottom-ranked business current account providers are
Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank.
Adam Land, Senior Director of Remedies, Business and
Financial Analysis at 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.
“These results make it easy for people to see in branch, or at
the click of a button, which banks are listening to their
customers and meeting their needs. This puts pressure on poorly
performing banks to raise their game. If the service and quality
offered by your bank has been below par, then you may well be
able to do better by making a switch.”
Notes to editors
1 . The CMA cannot comment on the performance of individual
banks. Journalists should speak to the individual banks for
further explanation.
2 . Personal account providers (such as banks and building
societies) with more than 150,000 active account holders in Great
Britain and more than 20,000 small business accounts are obliged
to collect and publish this data. In Northern Ireland, the
equivalent numbers are 20,000 for personal current accounts
(PCAs) and 15,000 for business current accounts (BCAs)
3 . Tell us if you think your bank has breached the Retail
Banking Order. Get in touch at general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk
4 . Please note that the CMA doesn’t intervene on behalf of
individual customers, but we do enforce the requirements of the
Order. If you think your supplier has misinformed or overcharged
you, contact Citizens Advice or the Financial Ombudsman Service.
5 . The CMA enforces the Retail Banking Order, and regularly
checks that banks are doing what they’re required to do. If the
CMA finds the Order is being breached, it can take action.
Learn more about what
happens when banks breach the Order
6 . Survey numbers below
-
Total number of PCA customers in GB = 16,046
-
Total number of PCA customers in NI = 5,528 Total number of
BCA customers in GB = 18,000
-
Total number or BCA customers in NI = 3,000
7 . Separately today, the CMA has also published letters to two
major current account providers, The Co-operative Bank
and NatWest Bank, who have
breached the Retail Banking Order. The Order requires banks to
publish in their branches and online the results of the SQI
surveys, showing where the bank fits against its competitors when
marked for its service quality. However, these two banks failed
to publish up to date information during specified periods.
