SCOTLAND-based banks are amongst the worst in Britain for customer satisfaction, according to a new consumer watchdog study.
The Royal Bank of Scotland ranked equal bottom in a Which? survey of consumer happiness with Clydesdale Bank and Copenhagen-based Danske Bank. The Bank of Scotland was ranked only four places from the foot of the table.
The watchdog's analysis taking into account the views of over 20,000 people between September 2015 and January 2016, had RBS ranked worst for its current accounts and credit cards.
Topping the customers satisfaction list was First Direct bank followed by Metro Bank and Coventry Building Society.
It is believed RBS's rating has been affected by IT issues it has had in the past year.
In July, RBS blamed a cyberattack for an IT failure which left hundreds of customers unable to access online banking on pay day.
The previous month a glitch which affected all four of its banking brands - NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank and private bank Coutts delayed around 600,000 payments for customers.
The taxpayer-supported bank faced a barrage of customer complaints after it admitted that delayed banking payments may not show up in accounts until the weekend. The issue also affected some Bacs payments, such as tax credits and disability living allowances.
NatWest and RBS had already been hit by a number of embarrassing IT glitches in recent years.
In November, 2014 the state-backed group was hit with a £56 million fine from the Bank of England and City watchdog Financial Conduct Authority after a computer failure in 2012 saw as many as 6.5 million customers unable to make payments for as long as three weeks.
Which? said it was also concerned that the Competition and Markets Authority's current proposals to reform the current account market are too focused on getting people to switch, rather than "tackling the unfairness" faced by unauthorised overdraft users and focusing on mechanisms that will ensure banks are held to account for how they treat their customers.
Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said: “It’s high time the industry put its customers first and the competition inquiry needs to ensure that banks are held to account for the way they treat their customers.
"The big players in this market need to get on the front-foot and improve services for their customers, instead of waiting to be forced into action.”
The watchdog has launched a ‘We Deserve Better Banks’ campaign calling for coordinated action by the regulators, government and industry to ensure banks listen to their customers about the quality of service and culture they expect. They also want banks to give customers better tools to put them in control of managing their money and tackle unfair unauthorised overdrafts.
Which? said for overall satisfaction, the gap between the bottom and First Direct (74%) at the top is "a shocking" 21 percentage points.
When looking specifically at ‘customer service’ on current accounts, less than half of the providers scored more than three out of five stars.
A Which? spokesman said: "Some banks have proven they can get it right for their customers, with First Direct receiving an overall score of 74% and Metro Bank customers saying they felt ‘valued’ and the ‘opening hours are very good’, yet because of a lack of competition this is not driving up standards effectively enough across the whole industry.
Les Matheson, chief executive of Personal and Business Banking, RBS and NatWest said: "Whilst we are disappointed in these results, we are determined to do more and we are working with Which? to support their campaign, including raising awareness and education of products - not just for our customers, but across the banking industry.
"We agree that Britain needs better banks and that is why over the last few years we've been challenging the industry to help our customers out, not catch them out and we're proud of how we're making banking simpler and fairer for our customers.
"We've scrapped unfair teaser rates, we offer our best deals to both new and existing customers and our staff are no longer incentivised to sell, meaning they can fully focus on the needs of our customers.
"We've also seen the number of complaints we receive reduce by 14% for NatWest, and 11% for RBS."
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