News
28/01/09 - The Co-operative Bank and smile Top on Customer Satisfaction
The first annual People's Choice report from Which? Money has revealed that The Co-operative Bank and smile are among the top three overall winners when it comes to customer satisfaction .
A total of 15,000 Which? members took part in the survey; respondents were asked how satisfied they were with their current account, savings, mortgage and credit card providers.
Whilst, smile was awarded the highest customer score for their current account at 88%, The Co-operative Bank followed closely with 82%. The highest score for savings accounts was The Co-operative Bank with 80%.
The survey, although gauging each providers service offering, didn't take into account the additional ethical practices of each provider where The Co-operative Bank still clearly leads the way – seventeen years on from it's introduction in 1992 and it's still the only high street bank to have a customer-led ethical policy.
Dick Parkhouse, Managing Director, Retail for The Co-operative Financial Services, said: “To be voted best high street provider and best on-line provider for customer satisfaction is a fantastic achievement for The Co-operative Bank and smile , with smile ranked as the number one overall provider.
“These findings clearly demonstrate our continued commitment to our customers in every aspect of our service proposition from face-to-face service across our branch network, our call centres and online.
“We are extremely proud of this acknowledgement from Which? Money's members which provides a clear indication that we are making great progress in our vision to become the UK's most admired financial services business.”
-Ends-
Notes to editors
For more information on smile please visit www.smile.co.uk and f or Which? Money visit http://www.which.co.uk
smile Case studies are available on request.
| Overall Customer Score | |
|---|---|
| Bank/ Building Society | Average Score (%) |
| Smile | 87 |
| First Direct | 83 |
| Co-operative Bank | 81 |
| Nationwide Building Society | 76 |
| Yorkshire Building Society | 74 |
| Intelligent Finance | 69 |
| Sainsbury's Bank | 66 |
| Britannia Building Society | 66 |
| Coventry Building Society | 65 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | 62 |
| NatWest | 60 |
| HSBC | 60 |
| Lloyd TSB | 59 |
| Bank of Scotland | 57 |
| Alliance & Leicester | 57 |
| Northern Rock | 55 |
| Cheltenham & Gloucester | 55 |
| Halifax | 53 |
| Barclays | 51 |
| Abbey | 46 |
| Overall Average Score | 63 |
| Current Accounts | |
|---|---|
| Bank/ Building Society | Customer Score (%) |
| Best ***** | |
| Smile (681) | 88 |
| First Direct (210) | 85 |
| Cahoot (167) | 82 |
| Co-operative Bank (115) | 82 |
| Average | 65 |
| Worst * | |
| Clydesdale bank (60) | 45 |
| Abbey (141) | 44 |
| Total Sample Size 5,457 (Sample sizes in brackets) | |
| Saving Accounts | |
|---|---|
| Bank/ Building Society | Customer Score (%) |
| Best ***** | |
| Co-operative Bank (76) | 80 |
| First Direct (123) | 78 |
| Average | 60 |
| Worst * | |
| Halifax (453) | 52 |
| Barclays (247) | 49 |
| Abbey (267) | 43 |
| Total Sample Size 2,900 (Sample size in brackets) | |
For further information contact:
Alejandra Solis /Catherine Turner
The Co-operative Financial Services Press Office
Tel: 0161 903 3808
Fax: 0161 903 2751
E-mail : alejandra.solis@cfs.coop
