Metro Bank and First Direct top consumer current account satisfaction surveys

Metro Bank and First Direct have topped a survey indicating how satisfied people across Britain are with their current accounts.

Meanwhile TSB, which suffered high-profile IT woes last year, was ranked bottom when consumers were asked how likely they would be to recommend their provider’s online and mobile banking services to friends and family.

Thousands of people were surveyed as part of measures introduced by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after it conducted a market investigation into the banking sector in 2016.

Banking customer satisfaction surveys are carried out to allow customers to see how their bank compares with others on quality of service and help to drive up competition between banks.

Since August 2018, banks have been required to publish information on how likely people would be to recommend their bank – including its online and mobile banking, branch and overdraft services – to friends, relatives or other businesses.

The results are updated every six months – in February and August.

The latest research among personal current account customers put Metro Bank on top when people were asked how likely they would be to recommend their current account provider to friends and family for overall service quality, followed by First Direct.

RBS was ranked at the bottom in this category.

First Direct came out top when people were asked about recommending their provider’s online and mobile banking services, with Barclays and Metro Bank ranked joint second and TSB in last place.

TSB suffered an IT meltdown last year which saw customers unable to access their accounts and the bank’s handling of the issues was heavily criticised.

Some 83% of First Direct customers would recommend its online and mobile banking services, as would 81% of Barclays and Metro Bank customers – compared with 59% of TSB customers, the survey found.

First Direct came out top again for overdraft services, followed by Metro Bank.

And Metro Bank, which keeps its doors open seven days a week, was ranked top for branch services – while RBS was bottom in this category.

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: “We introduced this survey last August so that people can see exactly how well banks are treating their customers.

“If people are unhappy with the customer service they are currently getting, I would encourage them to look at the results and think about switching to a better-performing bank.”

The results of the survey must be prominently displayed in banks’ branches, as well as on their websites and apps.

The research also looked at how satisfied business customers across Britain are with their banks.

When asked how likely they would be to recommend their business current account provider to other SMEs in terms of overall service quality, businesses put Handelsbanken top, followed by Metro Bank, with Santander in third place.

TSB came bottom in this category, with only 42% of business customers indicating they would make this recommendation.

Handelsbanken also topped the charts when businesses were asked about SME overdraft and loan services and their provider’s relationship and account management.

And it was in equal first place with Metro Bank when businesses were asked about services in branch and business centres.

Barclays came top when business customers were asked about recommending online and mobile banking services, with TSB again at the bottom, with only 38% of business customers being inclined to recommend it, compared with 76% of Barclays business customers.

Not all banks were included in the survey results. Results are only published when at least 100 customers have provided a score for a service in each survey period.

Here is how banks were ranked by personal current account customers when asked how likely they would be to recommend their account provider to friends and family, for overall service quality. The results show the proportions of customers of each provider who were extremely likely or very likely to recommend them:

1. Metro Bank, 83%
2. First Direct, 82%
3. Nationwide, 72%
4. Coventry Building Society, 70%
=5. Barclays, 64%
=5. Yorkshire Bank, 64%
7. Santander, 61%
=8. Halifax, 60%
=8. Lloyds Bank, 60%
10. NatWest, 59%
11. Bank of Scotland, 58%
12. HSBC UK, 57%
=13. TSB, 52%
=13. Co-op Bank, 52%
15. Clydesdale Bank, 51%
16. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), 47%

And here are the results for business customers, when asked how likely they were to recommend their provider to SMEs for overall service quality:

1. Handelsbanken, 85%
2. Metro Bank, 71%
3. Santander, 67%
=4. Lloyds Bank, 61%
=4. Barclays, 61%
6. Yorkshire Bank, 57%
7. Bank of Scotland, 54%
8. NatWest, 53%
9. HSBC UK, 52%
=10. Allied Irish Bank (GB), 50%
=10. Clydesdale Bank, 50%
=10. Co-op Bank, 50%
13. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), 46%
14. TSB, 42%

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