Welcome to the Finder Business Banking Customer Satisfaction Awards 2021
Our awards are decided by the only votes that really matter – yours. We asked customers of eight major business banking providers to tell us about their experiences. Now we can reveal how they rated these UK banks.
The winners
The winning and highly commended companies were decided by both their overall customer satisfaction scores (star ratings out of five) and their recommendation scores (the percentage of survey respondents who would recommend the brand to a friend). Read more on our methodology and see our full results below.
Now without any further ado, here are our winners (*applause please*)…
Business Banking Customer Satisfaction Winner:
Starling Bank
Digital-only bank Starling topped our inaugural customer satisfaction survey for business banking, recording 5 out of 5 stars and an exceptional “would recommend” score of 97%.
Its comprehensive business account doesn’t come with a monthly fee attached and despite being the newest bank on this list (Starling was founded in 2014), it has certainly proved a hit with its customers.
Business Banking Customer Satisfaction Highly Commended:
Barclays
Highly commended Barclays registered a star rating of 4.5, with a huge 94% of business banking customers saying they would recommended the brand to a friend.
The high street bank can trace its roots back more than 300 years, and as well offering products such as current accounts and mortgages, it offers several different business accounts depending on the size of the business.
Best business banks for customer satisfaction in 2021
Overall satisfaction
Customers who’d recommend
Issuer
Review
★★★★★
97%
Digital challenger bank Starling reigned supreme in our survey, scoring near-perfect marks, despite not having any branches. The customers we polled highlighted its easy to use app and low business banking charges.
Runner-up Barclays wasn’t too far behind Starling. The bank operates different business accounts depending on company size, and our survey respondents praised its “helpful” customer service.
Long-established Lloyds Bank also recorded an impressive “would recommend” score of 93% in our survey. It offers business accounts for new and established businesses, as well as one for clubs and charities. Customers cited the bank’s reliability and account holder support as positive points.
Santander operates a range of different business accounts, some of which come with discounted fees for first-time customers. Customer in our survey praised this provider’s online banking features and “friendly” staff.
Although its branch network is mainly confined to Scotland, Bank of Scotland offers accounts to businesses across the UK. It has several business account options to choose from, and there is a dedicated resource centre especially for business account holders.
TSB relaunched on the UK high street in 2013, but its recent branch closures were highlighted by some business account holders in our survey. But TSB does offer an initial period of free business banking for six months, and some of our respondents were very happy with the customer service they had received.
HSBC, the largest bank in the UK, didn’t poll as strongly as some of its counterparts in our survey, posting a rating of 3.5 stars. Like some of the other banks here, it offers a free banking introductory period for startups or businesses switching their account to HSBC, after which fees apply.
NatWest brought up the end of the table in this year’s business banking survey, with a star rating of 3. Three-quarters of the customers we polled would still recommend the bank to a friend, although there were mixed reviews about its level of customer service.
We asked business account holders to rate their satisfaction with the service they had received from their bank, and also whether they would recommend that provider to a friend. Our independent survey of 250 business banking customers was carried out in December 2020 – read full details of our methodology here.
We have crunched the numbers and shown the results for the eight banks listed in the table above. We used these ratings to decide the winners of our awards (if there was a draw on the star ratings score, we used the “would recommend” percentage as a tie-breaker).
Business banking ratings
★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor
Our customer satisfaction scores (“Customers say”) are based on a survey of 250 customers carried out in December 2020.
We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circumstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you. Most of the data in Finder's comparison tables has the source: Moneyfacts Group PLC. In other cases, Finder has sourced data directly from providers.
Michelle Stevens is a deputy editor at Finder, specialising in banking, credit, loans and mortgages. She has a journalism degree from the University of Sheffield and has been a journalist for 15 years, writing on topics including fintech, payment systems and retail. In her spare time, Michelle likes to travel, explore new foodie experiences and attempt to improve her own culinary skills. See full bio
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