CMA survey ranks service of British banks

A survey of thousands of individual and small business current account holders commissioned by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ranked how well retail banks are supporting their customers.

Smaller banks and challengers to the traditional major players in British banking topped the leaderboard for service for both personal and business banking in the survey.

For business current accounts, Starling Bank was ranked best for its service, followed by fellow digital bank, Monzo, with the two online-only banks sharing first place for their personal current account offerings. Third place for business banking was Handelsbanken, which also retained its top spot for Relationship/Account Management.

The team from Handelsbanken’s Stockport branch said of the results of the survey:

“At Handelsbanken, we do our best to provide excellent service and expert advice for our customers, as is reflected in the latest Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) independent service quality survey published today. We are proud to retain the top spot for Relationship / Account Management”

The bottom ranked business current account providers were The Co-operative Bank (15th), Virgin Money (=13th) and HSBC (=13th). For personal accounts, Royal Bank of Scotland (16th), Virgin Money (15th)and TSB (14th) rounded out the leaderboard.

Adam Land, Senior Director at the CMA, said of the survey results:

“As the rising cost of living bites, it’s important that people and businesses have the information they need to manage their money and make savings.

“These results show how banks are treating their customers at a time when many are feeling the pinch.

“When times are tough you find out who’s fighting your corner and if your bank doesn’t match up to the competition – you can vote with your feet and make a switch.”

Retail banks with more than 150,000 personal accounts and more than 20,000 small business accounts are required by the CMA to take part in the customer survey following a 2016 review into the sector’s practices. The survey was carried out by Ipsos (personal banking) and BVA BDRC (business banking).