Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) and HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) were among the worst performers in a mandatory customer survey that rates the best banks for the quality of service.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ordered banks to publish bi-annual measurements of how customers rate their services following a review of retail banking in August.
GfK UK conducted an independent survey asking customers of 16 of the largest retail banks how likely they would be to recommend their personal account provider to others.
The first list was published on Wednesday, ranking UK banks in order of overall service quality.
RBS ranked last, Lloyds rated same as TSB
RBS came joint last with Clydesdale Bank at 15th place, with 49% of customers recommending the two lenders.
In joint 13th place were HSBC and The Co-operative Bank with 55% people recommending the banks.
Lloyds was ranked ninth alongside Natwest, a unit of RBS, and TSB which recently suffered an IT meltdown that caused customers to lose access to online banking services. Some 60% of customers said they would recommend these banks.
READ: TSB reports big first-half loss due to costs related to botched IT update earlier this year
Bank of Scotland was 12th at 57% of customers recommending the bank.
First Direct in top spot
In first place was First Direct at 85% followed by the Metro Bank with 83% of customers recommending the bank. Nationwide was third with 73% recommending it for service quality.
Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) was ranked fifth alongside Santander UK with 64% of customers recommending the lenders.
“For the first time, people will now be able to easily compare banks on the quality of the service they provide, and so judge if they’re getting the most for their money or could do better elsewhere,” said CMA senior director Adam Land.
“This is one of the many measures – including Open Banking and overdraft text alerts – that we put in place to make banks work harder for their customers and help people shop around to find the best deals for them.”
The survey was carried out between last September and June of this year.