By Kristy Dorsey
Virgin Money has seen its service ranking from personal account holders slump further after absorbing the Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks, while the UK’s Starling Bank has shot straight to the top of the charts in the latest business banking review by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The bi-annual survey on business banking, in which approximately 1,200 customers are quizzed for each provider, saw Starling and Virgin Money as new entrants. It is compulsory for all relevant banks to take part in both the business and personal banking survey, and to prominently display the results within branches and online.
In terms of overall business banking satisfaction, Starling unseated Handelsbanken from its previously preeminent position with a ranking of 89 per cent. Handelsbanken came in at 75%, down one percentage point from six months earlier and four percentage points from August 2020.
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Metro Bank (69%), Santander (63%) and Barclays (60%) rounded out the top five in the business banking category. Virgin Money, HSBC and TSB were joint ninth on 52%, followed by Royal Bank of Scotland (48%), The Co-operative Bank (46%) and AIB (44%).
Half of personal account holders with Virgin Money said they would be likely to recommend their bank to a friend or family member, putting it third from the bottom after Royal Bank of Scotland and Tesco, both on 48%.
Virgin Money had ranked ninth a year ago on a 60% rating when the figures for Yorkshire Bank (56%) and Clydesdale Bank (51%) were listed separately. Virgin Money took over the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Group (CYBG) in 2018, with the group subsequently adopting the Virgin Money name.
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“Lots of people don’t have time for life admin, which is why jobs like comparing providers can fall to the bottom of the list,” said Adam Land, senior director at the CMA. “These results make it easy for people to see which banks are best meeting their customers’ needs at the click of a button, which puts pressure on poorly performing banks to raise their game.
“The past year has put financial pressure on many people and small businesses, and this is the first full set of results to reflect how banks have supported customers through this difficult period. If the service and quality offered by your bank has not been up to scratch, you may well be able to do better.”
The top five in customer satisfaction among personal account holders were Monzo (83%), First Direct (81%), Starling Bank (81%), Metro Bank (74%) and Nationwide (68%).
The survey was introduced in 2018 following the CMA's 2016 investigation into the UK retail banking market.
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