Have you got the Right Bank for your Business? It’s an important question because when push comes to shove you need to be able to rely on your bank. At Mistral Associates we’re very aware of this – it’s a big factor when your trying to grow (and can be an even bigger factor when things get a bit difficult) so we regularly help business owners look at their provider and their arrangements as part of our service.
How has your bank been rated?
Consumer insight consultancy BVA BDRC conducted an independent survey for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Nearly 20,000 small business banking customers were asked about their provider during 2018.
Respondents were asked about their provider’s:
- overall service quality
- online and mobile banking services
- small business overdraft and loan services
- relationship and account management
- service in branches and business centres
The results show “the proportion of customers of each provider who said they were ‘extremely likely’ or ‘very likely’ to recommend each service” to other SMEs. Here are the results ranking 14 banks.
The top 5 banks based on overall service quality
| Bank | Percentage of customers who would recommend |
|---|---|
| Handelsbanken | 85 per cent |
| Metro Bank | 71 per cent |
| Santander | 67 per cent |
| Lloyds Bank | 61 per cent |
| Barclays | 61 per cent |
Nine other banks round out the rest of the ranking:
- Yorkshire Bank (57 per cent)
- Bank of Scotland (54 per cent)
- Natwest (53 per cent)
- HSBC UK (52 per cent)
- Allied Irish Bank (50 per cent)
- Clydesdale Bank (50 per cent)
- The Co-operative Bank (50 per cent)
- Royal Bank of Scotland (46 per cent)
- TSB (42 per cent)
Handelsbanken is a Swedish export that calls itself a ‘local relationship bank’, adding that each branch operates as a local business that gets to know the market and community.
Metro Bank launched less than nine years ago and ranked top in BVA BDRC’s separate poll for personal banking.
The top 5 banks based on overdraft and loan services
| Bank | Percentage of customers who would recommend |
|---|---|
| Handelsbanken | 83 per cent |
| Santander | 70 per cent |
| Yorkshire Bank | 61 per cent |
| Barclays | 60 per cent |
| Natwest | 59 per cent |
Only eight other banks round out the rankings here, because fewer than 100 of Metro Bank’s customers provided an eligible score for overdraft and loan services:
- Clydesdale Bank (joint fifth with Natwest at 59 per cent)
- Lloyds Bank (58 per cent)
- Bank of Scotland (58 per cent)
- HSBC UK (58 per cent)
- Allied Irish Bank (55 per cent)
- Royal Bank of Scotland (49 per cent)
- TSB (44 per cent)
- The Co-operative Bank (43 per cent)
The top 5 banks based on relationship and account management
| Bank | Percentage of customers who would recommend |
|---|---|
| Handelsbanken | 91 per cent |
| Santander | 65 per cent |
| Metro Bank | 64 per cent |
| Lloyds Bank | 63 per cent |
| Allied Irish Bank | 61 per cent |
This is how the rest of the banks fared:
- Barclays (60 per cent)
- Yorkshire Bank (57 per cent)
- Natwest (57 per cent)
- Clydesdale Bank (54 per cent)
- Bank of Scotland (52 per cent)
- Royal Bank of Scotland (50 per cent)
- The Co-operative Bank (47 per cent)
- HSBC UK (46 per cent)
- TSB (43 per cent)
The top 5 banks based on online and mobile banking services
| Bank | Percentage of customers who would recommend |
|---|---|
| Barclays | 76 per cent |
| Santander | 73 per cent |
| Lloyds Bank | 73 per cent |
| Metro Bank | 71 per cent |
| Natwest | 70 per cent |
Here’s where the other banks placed:
- Bank of Scotland (64 per cent)
- Handelsbanken (64 per cent)
- HSBC UK (62 per cent)
- Royal Bank of Scotland (59 per cent)
- Yorkshire Bank (57 per cent)
- Clydesdale Bank (54 per cent)
- Allied Irish Bank (48 per cent)
- The Co-operative Bank (47 per cent)
- TSB (38 per cent)
The top 5 banks based on service in branches and business centres
| Bank | Percentage of customers who would recommend |
|---|---|
| Handelsbanken | 77 per cent |
| Metro Bank | 77 per cent |
| Lloyds Bank | 60 per cent |
| TSB | 57 per cent |
| Barclays | 56 per cent |
Here are how the other nine banks ranked:
- Bank of Scotland (joint fifth with Barclays at 56 per cent)
- Santander (55 per cent)
- Yorkshire Bank (52 per cent)
- Clydesdale Bank (49 per cent)
- Natwest (47 per cent)
- HSBC UK (44 per cent)
- Royal Bank of Scotland (43 per cent)
- Allied Irish Bank (42 per cent)
- The Co-operative Bank (39 per cent)
What should you do if your bank ranks bottom?
The CMA’s investigation into the banking industry in 2016, found that only four per cent of business account customers move their accounts annually.
Chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority, Andrea Coscelli, said: “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.”
