Something to Smile about

By JO THORNHILL
Updated:

 

SMILE, the internet-only offering from Co-op Bank, has topped a league table of online banks for customer satisfaction.

The research, conducted by Virtual Surveys, was compiled from over 4,000 web-based interviews with e-banking customers in the last quarter of 2001. Smile scored top marks with 4.2 out of a possible 5 points.

But there were large differences in satisfaction ratings among the main internet bank offerings. At the bottom of the table is NatWest, scoring just 2.8 points and Alliance & Leicester with 2.7. Both came in for criticism for slow websites and user access problems.

Specialising in internet banking didn't always guarantee the best results either. Internet-only banks Cahoot, the subsidiary of Abbey National, Intelligent Finance, online banking arm of Halifax and Egg, spun off from Prudential, all ranked in the middle range with a disappointing score of 3.4 out of 5.

Peter Comley, managing director of Virtual Surveys, says speed of response and general ease of use were the two most important factors of good service cited by customers.

Customer support was also seen as very important. This was an area where First Direct, the telephone and internet bank of HSBC, scored particularly well. Overall, First Direct scored 4 points out of 5 and was runner up in the league table.

Comley says problems connected with logging on and passwords caused customers the greatest strife.

Virtual Online Banking Survey
League Table:

4.2 Smile
4.0 First Direct
3.9 Nationwide
3.8 Co-operative Bank
3.6 HSBC
3.5 RBS
3.4 Cahoot
3.4 Bank of Scotland
3.4 Halifax
3.4 IF
3.4 Barclays
3.4 Egg
3.4 Woolwich
3.2 Lloyds TSB
3.1 Abbey National
2.8 NatWest
2.7 Alliance & Leicester

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