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UK customers have higher opinions of their online banks than a year ago, according to Quarter 4 '03 results from Web specialists Virtual Surveys. 70% of online bank customers now rate the service as excellent or very good.
The Virtual Online Banking Survey (V-OBS) is conducted for a syndicate of the major online banks and has run continuously since April 2001. In the latest wave, Smile, First Direct and Nationwide still rate highest but some of those banks previously trailing the pack have made the most progress. Mid-table in the online banking Premiership has a familiar compact look to it, with less than half a point now separating fourth place in the table from fourteenth. The following are scores for all online banks for whom 100+ ratings were collected in Q4/2003:
| QUARTER 4 '03 V-OBS LEAGUE TABLE | |||
| % Banking With | Overall Opinion | Overall Opinion | |
| Average Bank | - | 3.9 | +0.3 |
| Smile | 7% | 4.4 | +0.1 |
| First Direct | 13% | 4.4 | +0.3 |
| Nationwide | 8% | 4.1 | +0.1 |
| RBS | 5% | 4.0 | +0.3 |
| HSBC | 16% | 3.9 | +0.1 |
| IF | 3% | 3.8 | +0.2 |
| Lloyds TSB | 16% | 3.8 | +0.3 |
| Egg | 9% | 3.8 | +0.4 |
| Cahoot | 5% | 3.8 | +0.2 |
| Barclays | 15% | 3.7 | +0.2 |
| Halifax | 10% | 3.6 | - |
| Abbey National | 6% | 3.6 | +0.3 |
| NatWest | 10% | 3.6 | +0.5 |
| Alliance & Leicester | 3% | 3.6 | +0.4 |
| Woolwich | 2% | 3.3 | - |
According to Virtual Surveys Director Quentin Ashby, 'Ratings for most online banks have improved over the past year but improvements in overall ratings have been most marked for banks such as NatWest and Alliance & Leicester, who have previously obtained very low scores. Whilst they have a long way to go to achieve the same scores as the best online banks, it is good to see them moving in the right direction'.
Improvements from 2002 are greatest in terms of the speed of the online banks' systems and the ease of use. Furthermore, ratings have improved considerably for the payment of standing orders and direct debits function.
4,535 customers of UK online banks were interviewed between October and December 2003, using a pop-up survey shown to a random sample of UK Internet users recruited from a variety of (non-banking) UK websites. Response rate is estimated to be about 5% of all online bank customers shown the survey.
More information on the survey and how to join the syndicate can be obtained from Quentin Ashby at quentin.ashby@virtualsurveys.com or via www.virtualsurveys.com
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.
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