CFI Group launched the first UK National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI-UK) for banks and mortgage lenders, based on a sample of 5,383 responses from customers who have a current account with a bank or have a mortgage agreement with a lender.
All companies were measured with a customer satisfaction score on a scale of 0-100, with 100 being the highest. The Industry measure includes six major mortgage lenders: HBOS (Bank of Scotland/Halifax/Birmingham Midshires), Abbey, Lloyds TSB (includes Cheltenham and Gloucester), Nationwide, Northern Rock and RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest); smaller companies are included as ‘All Other’. The retail banking and mortgage industries score 71 and 70 respectively.
Top rated lenders include Nationwide Building Society (77), followed by RBS Group (NatWest/The Royal Bank of Scotland) with 72 and Lloyds TSB, with 71. Abbey was the bottom scorer with 65, closely followed by Northern Rock (68).
With 18% of customers making a complaint in the last year, RBS Group has the highest number of complaints. In contrast, Northern Rock has the lowest number of customer complaints followed by Nationwide. However, where there was a complaint, Northern Rock was worst at complaint handling. Abbey fared only a little better.
Nationwide customers are the most loyal. Northern Rock customers are most likely to change lenders with the lowest loyalty score.
“There has been plenty of research in the UK looking at current consumer spend, but very few are actually using the voice of the customer to drive their business performance. Customer satisfaction is a critical measurement for companies hoping to retain and grow their customer base in this difficult and highly competitive market climate,” said Sheri Teodoru, managing partner of CFI Group. “Companies that do well by the customer will be rewarded with increased market share and more capital investment, while companies that fail to satisfy the customer will be punished by defections of both buyers and investors.”
