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Finder Business Banking Customer Satisfaction Awards 2021
How did your business banking provider fare in our latest customer satisfaction survey and awards?
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.
Read our review of Starling business banking
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.
Read our review of Barclays business banking
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. | Read our review |
| ★★★★★ | 94% |  | 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. | Read our review |
| ★★★★★ | 93% |  | 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. | Read our review |
| ★★★★★ | 90% |  | 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. | Read our review |
| ★★★★★ | 90% |  | 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. | Read our review |
| ★★★★★ | 82% |  | 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. | Read our review |
| ★★★★★ | 81% |  | 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. | Read our review |
| ★★★★★ | 74% |  | 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. | Read our review |
Customer satisfaction ratings methodology
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.
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