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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