Britain’s favourite banks revealed: Monzo, Starling and Chase lead the pack

Digital banks are leading the way when it comes to customer satisfaction, official data shows.

Monzo, Starling and Chase are Britain’s favourite banks, according to the latest survey by the Competition and Markets Authority.

Monzo, which recently hit 10 million customers in the UK, was ranked number one by customers for overall satisfaction, closely followed by Starling and Chase.

To arrive at the results, 1,000 customers of each of the 17 largest current account providers in Great Britain and around 500 customers of each of the 11 largest current account providers in Northern Ireland were asked whether they would recommend their provider to friends and family.

Customers were asked how likely they were to recommend their bank account provider in general, the bank’s online and mobile banking services, in-branch services and overdraft services to friends and family.

Four in five Monzo customers said they were “extremely likely” or “very likely” to recommend a Monzo current account to friends or family.

This figure was 79 percent for Starling customers and 78 percent for Chase customers.

At the other end of the scale, Co-op Bank, Virgin Money and RBS ranked lowest for overall customer satisfaction and in each of the other four categories.

The survey showed that 53 per cent of Co-op customers said they were “extremely likely” or “very likely” to recommend Co-op to a family member or friend.

This figure dropped to 49 per cent for Virgin Money customers and 46 per cent for RBS customers.

Nationwide Building Society, Lloyds Bank and Metro Bank ranked highest for branch services, while Co-op Bank, Virgin Money and RBS again ranked lowest for branch services.

The CMA is requiring banks and building societies to display the survey results prominently online and in branches so customers can see whether they might get a better experience with a different provider.

When it comes to business current accounts, Monzo and Starling again took first and second place for customer satisfaction, while Tide and Handelsbanken took third place.

The lowest-ranked business current account providers were RBS, Co-op Bank, Barclays and HSBC.

Dan Turnbull of the CMA said: ‘It’s important that banks listen to their customers and then deliver services in a way that works for them.

‘Strong competition is the most effective way to improve customer service experience.’

If a customer is unhappy with their current account or their bank in general, it is easy to switch to a new current account provider through the Current Account Switching Service (CASS).

CASS aims to transfer your current account within seven days.

Many banks offer new customers cash bonuses and other rewards such as cash back for switching their current account in a bid to attract new deposits – some pay up to £175.

> Top five current accounts: Check out This is Money’s guide to the best accounts for interest, benefits and cashback