‘Best and worst’ UK banks for customer satisfaction revealed by poll

Monzo has been named the best bank in Great Britain for customer satisfaction, according to a major industry-wide survey.

The poll of more than 17,000 personal current account customers placed Starling Bank in second place and JP Morgan’s Chase – which only launched in the UK three years ago – third.

The survey, which was organised by regulator the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and is now in its seventh year, asked account holders to rate the quality of the services provided by their bank, including online banking, overdraft arrangements and their “in-branch” experience.

Bottom of the list, in 17th place, was the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is owned by NatWest Group.

Also performing badly in the survey, carried out between July 2023 and June 2024, was Virgin Money in 16th and the Co-operative Bank in 15th.

The watchdog found that digital banks without a physical branch network – such as Monzo, Starling and Chase – did better than traditional lenders when it came to how likely customers were to recommend them to friends and family.

A separate CMA survey of more than 19,000 business current account customers also placed Monzo top of the list, with HSBC coming last.

The regulator has made it compulsory for large banks to take part in the rolling survey, which has its results updated every six months, and they must display the findings “prominently online and in-branch”.

The CMA said it could not comment on why some banks performed better than others.

However, its senior director of markets Dan Turnbull said: “It’s important that banks listen to their customers and then provide services in a way that works for them.

“Strong competition is the most effective way to improve the customer service experience, and this survey provides the transparency that people need to be able to choose a new provider if they feel their bank is not up to scratch.”

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Monzo, which has more than 10 million personal customers, said its top position in the poll was not something it would “ever take for granted”.

A spokeswoman for Co-op Bank said it was “pleased to see increases across the majority of our scores within this survey”, and that it “strives to continually enhance our service levels”.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Money, which earlier this year agreed to a takeover by Nationwide, also pointed out that its scores for both business and personal current account holders had improved since the previous iteration of the survey.

The bank said its “focus remains on driving further improvements as we know there is more work to do”.